What to Expect When You're Not Expecting
by WhipOfLightHeartOfSword
Summary: An ailing Byakuya and his team take shelter in Hueco Mundo when an arrancar attack disables the senkaimon. What seems like a simple case of lying low becomes far more complicated when it's discovered that Byakuya's 'illness' is actually labor... Mpreg
1. Chapter 1

**What to Expect When You're Not Expecting**

**Author****:** WhipOfLightHeartOfSword

**Rating****:** M/R

**Pairing****:** Renji/Byakuya (more to be announced)

**World****: **AU after Rukia is rescued and it is discovered that Aizen is going to try to create the Ouken and kill the Spirit King.

**Warnings****: (Yaoi, Mpreg, Childbirth)** This fic contains yaoi (aka slash) and Mpreg (male pregnancy—think Arnold Schwarzenegger in the comedy 'Junior'). Yes, I get a kick out of saying 'screw you' to the laws of nature, taking a white-out pen to them, and re-writing them as I please. This is a fictional story; therefore I am allowed to do this. However, I completely understand that this may not be something everyone wants to read about, which is only fair since there are genres I sure don't like and avoid. Hence the long and elaborate warning in which I tell you that if you don't like the idea of reading about two men in love or a guy giving birth to his own kids for a change (thus giving the poor ladies a long-awaited break!) then please hit the back button and leave now.

Also, this particular plotbunny describes some of the more nitty gritty parts of childbirth, so if that squicks you, you too may want to skip this one. I don't think it's too graphic… but different people have different levels of sensitivity.

**Feedback****:** Yes please, but NO FLAMES. I don't read them so it would be a waste of your time. You were fairly warned what this story contained. Constructive criticism is very welcomed though. If you tried it anyway and still didn't like it, then don't blame me—that was your choice. Just hit the back button and go find a story you do enjoy.

**Disclaimer****:** Bleach and all the characters and events you see in the anime and/or manga are owned by Tite Kubo, Shonen Jump, and various others—myself not included. Anything else such as but not limited to any original characters and the story premise are mine. No copyright infringement is intended, and no profit is, has, or ever will be made off of this story. This is purely a fan-work done for nothing more than the simple enjoyment of myself and anyone who cares to read it.

**Full Summary****: **For Kuchiki Byakuya, the last thing he ever expected was to find out that he had unknowingly been pregnant for the past nine months, or that he would be trapped in Hueco Mundo with no healer and way home when his baby decided it was ready to be born… Meanwhile, a traitor in the Seiretei has damaged the senkaimon and communications system, leaving a worried Renji uncertain if his captain is still safe, and unaware that he's about to become a father.

**A/N****: **This little gem was quite the random one as far as plotbunnies goes. About a year ago I happened upon an episode of such-and-such (I can't remember which) channel's show "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant". At least I think that was the title. Whatever. You'd think that, being an mpreg fan and writer, I'd have gotten the plotbunny back then. Nope! It's only now, more than a year later when I'm not even in the U.S. and haven't seen the show in who knows how long, that this bunny comes along as I was in the middle of finals. *sigh* Oh well. Let's see if I can still get any studying done while hiding underneath my desk. Byakuya's going to kill me by the end of this fic! Lol.

***Update * **

**Sorry guys, gonna change things up on you a little. For the better, I swear! When I wrote the original version of this story I made myself use OCs for Byakuya's team because I couldn't come up with an idea to get some of the series' main characters together for a simple recon mission. They are after all mostly high ranking people in different divisions with their own responsibilities. Well, apparently That Damn Muse was holding out on me! Right after I posted Chapter 1 and convinced myself to stop nit-picking at it… she gives me the ideas I was looking for in the first place. So, for anyone who was really attached to the original version, I still have it, and on request I'm willing to re-post it (though I'm thinking on Livejournal since Ffnet supposedly has a thing about the same story being posted twice... have to look that up). **

** Anyway, Chapter 1 has been split into two halves, since after the rewrite it was quite the monster in length. Part 1 is new, and shows the events leading up to Byakuya departing for Hueco Mundo, but with some descriptive and explanatory elements from the original transplanted into it. Part 2 is mostly what was posted originally, with the appropriate alterations to names. Chapter 2 is already rewritten and completely new. **

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****~*~Chapter 1, Part 1~*~**

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Sunlight streamed through the windows, casting a barred pattern of shadows across the surface of the desk and the report in front of him. To his left the light fell on a small bowl of fresh raspberries, making them glow an even brighter crimson.

Kuchiki Byakuya carefully perused the document in front of him, thoroughly evaluating it for error before he placed it down flat and reached for his brush. He added his own notations and signed it before setting it aside to dry and reaching for the next report to be read.

The amount of paperwork on his desk was at least triple what it would have been a year before. It was further increased by the absence of the red-haired fukutaichou who should have been sitting at the desk on the other side of the room.

It had been over seven months since Renji had been stationed in Karakura, and just a bit over six months since Aizen was to have made his attempt to destroy the town, and create the King's Key. Since the end of December had come and gone it was obvious something was delaying him, but what that was they had yet to figure out. In that time Aizen had never stopped harassing the Gotei 13, resorting to regular attacks designed to further weaken them and deplete their forces while he either came up with a new plan entirely, or worked to fix whatever went wrong with the first one.

Despite its name the Winter War was still raging well into June. After all this time, they were still three captains short, and with Aizen hounding them at every opportunity and the remaining intact squads working double-time to make up for the holes in the Gotei 13's structure, there was no time to train replacements and get Squads Three, Five, and Nine operating again at full capacity. Lieutenants Hisagi and Kira were doing fantastic jobs but they just weren't quite ready to take on a captain's haori. With a bit of training they would be, but no one had the time to devote to them consistently enough to be effective, and they certainly didn't have the time to spare to train themselves. For now Kyouraku Taichou and Komamura Taichou were sharing the task of keeping Squad Five intact until a more permanent solution to their situation could be found. But unless Hinamori recovered or someone stepped up and managed to gain the trust of that broken and demoralized squad, it was not inconceivable that the Fifth might simply be disbanded and its members sent to other squads rather than being kept in a permanent holding pattern.

Then there was the lingering threat to Karakura Town. Protecting it had to remain of utmost priority in case Aizen attempted to destroy it after all, but keeping teams of higher ranked officers constantly stationed there was further taxing their resources. Byakuya couldn't fault Yamamoto Soutaichou for his decision to send Renji where he felt that he'd be of the best use, but it wasn't doing the noble himself any good not to have his lieutenant around.

His brush lifted and moved in graceful curves as he signed the paper, set it aside, and reached for the next one.

Life these days was a blur of long working hours, little rest, and even less leisure as the squads divided their efforts between covering their weaknesses, fending the arrancar off, and figuring out what the traitor would do next. The attacks were buying Aizen time so when he did make his final move against them, they'd still only have an incomplete and exhausted force to oppose him with. Unlike him, they couldn't breed replacement shinigami like he did arrancar.

It was deviously clever and sound strategy on Aizen's part. It was keeping one of their biggest weaknesses against him intact and giving him far more favorable odds of winning.

On a more personal note it was also tearing Byakuya's health to shreds. Before the war, he'd thought stress was an inconvenience that was easily overcome with simple discipline. In fact, it was such a regular part of his life that he hardly acknowledged it anymore.

The effects he'd felt for the last eight or nine months had given him a whole new outlook, and made any stress he'd experienced before look insignificant.

He'd fallen into a routine of working endless hours at his desk, only taking a break for meals. Some days he didn't even manage to do that. Exercise was a thing of the past, except in the rare cases where he himself was required to take part in a mission. He recalled the time he and Renji journeyed together to Karakura to retrieve Rukia, and consequently ran into Ichigo for the first time. He'd told his lieutenant then that even he needed to train, to fight, or risk getting rusty. It seemed now those words were coming back to haunt him. The sporadic bouts of activity coupled with long periods of doing nothing but desk work had resulted in him falling severely out of shape.

He hated looking down at himself these days and seeing the pudgy curve that had once been a set of beautifully defined abs. He especially hated it when he was attending meetings with the taichou from the other squads. Among the captains there was always a certain level of rivalry and constant peer pressure. Any failings were swiftly and brutally brought to the attention of all as a way to encourage each of them to always maintain their guard and keep to the high standards set for those of high rank such as them, lest they—and by extension their squad—be humiliated and made to look inferior.

Several comments about his weight had been made lately, especially when someone brought up the topic of how thinly spread and overworked the divisions were getting. The majority and most vicious of these came from Kurotsuchi—always eager to point out another taichou's shortcomings—and Zaraki—always eager to goad the Kuchiki noble for his own entertainment. Regardless of their motives, though, they weren't the only ones. Hitsugaya had put in a couple of his own remarks the few times he had reported in by video-link from Karakura, something about it not being fair that he should be run ragged trying to man a post in both the Living World and keep up with his Division in the Seiretei while others got to sit around and be lazy. Even Soi Fon had voiced her opinion once that it was hard to argue that the squads were overworked when one of their taichou managed to be so inactive that he couldn't even stay in shape.

Equally as shameful as these remarks to Byakuya was his reaction to them. It was testament to how stressed he was that a few times he'd barely managed to hold it together long enough for the meeting to end. Afterwards it was all he could do to shunpo as fast as possible to his private quarters, before the tears began to flow. For him to be so affected was damning to him. As a noble he was used to cutting remarks as his family criticized his every move. The words of his fellow taichou shouldn't have fazed him at all.

Another signature, another report set aside, another one picked up.

Unfortunately, with the current situation as it was there was little he could do about his schedule that would allow him more time to train and get back to being properly fit. At least when Renji was around the two shared the deskwork between them and usually managed to get it done with enough time to spare that they could take to the training grounds together. His fukutaichou was really the only one in the squad who could keep up with him and give him the real, challenging exercise a shinigami of his caliber needed. Trying to get that same workout by himself was time consuming, bothersome—and as he was discovering—_boring_. Used to training primarily by himself since he was a child, Byakuya never would have thought that he could get spoiled of all things by having a consistent sparring partner, especially after enduring hodou mentorship by Shihoin Yoruichi and her constant taunts and baiting.

Then again, getting a legitimate excuse to see his lover minus shitagi and kosode, muscles rippling, chest heaving and tattoos glistening with exertion and sweat was definite incentive to make an exception and even more incentive to forego working late. Especially since the aftermath of such training usually involved retiring to the hot springs together, followed by even more hot, sweaty action between the sheets.

But that was then. Now his routine had gotten so exhausting that he didn't even bother going home anymore except to check in on his relatives and make sure they hadn't killed each other. He still kept in contact with the Kuchiki Elders, but thankfully nothing had come up that required a formal counsel meeting, so he was content to send his wishes and instructions to them by correspondence and then let them take care of it. With consideration to the war and the threat to the King, they were not opposed, though definitely not pleased either.

So long as they didn't make a mess of things, he was too busy tending to other matters to care.

Graduation day was coming up for the Academy. All of the taichou were hoping for a good turnout this year, as the only other time they ever got new recruits was when someone was promoted to an officer position in another squad, or for some reason transferred. Aizen had that advantage over them in his ability to simply breed his subordinates. Their saving grace was that despite the hogyoku's ability to create arrancar from adjuchas, not all of the results were powerful enough to become Espada.

He wished Renji could be there to help them promote the Sixth. His charisma drew people in like a magnet, and the squad could certainly use that to help them as they tried to bolster their numbers. It also meant Byakuya himself would be slightly less on display, having his taller, more exotic-looking fukutaichou standing next to him…

The noble resolutely pushed that train of thought aside, refusing to let thoughts of how much he missed his fukutaichou sidetrack him as he set the report onto the pile of completed work and began to read the next. If he'd thought Renji was a distraction before, it was nothing compared to the aching, ever-present yearning to have his lover back that had settled into his heart and mind the moment the man had left.

Between the heartsickness, stress, and exhaustion, his ability to work as long and hard as was needed to get everything done was declining. Stress was a killer, someone had once said. Byakuya didn't have any experience to quite back that up, but he could testify to how much it could mess up his already deteriorating body.

Nausea, for one. There where some days all he could manage was tea if he didn't want to end up being sick in the trashcan next to his desk. Fortunately by listening to what his body wanted he'd managed to avoid that so far. Eating was important; he didn't skip a meal if it could be helped because hunger meant both diminished energy and concentration, neither of which he could afford. But if stress was making him nauseous he would wait for it to pass before he attempted to eat anything.

Heartburn was another stress-induced problem. Fortunately it could be kept manageable if he stayed away from the spicy foods he normally loved. It was a nuisance, but it was that or ask Unohana Taichou for some kind of medication. Personally he felt it was better to simply change his diet than resort to taking drugs that weren't absolutely necessary, so he'd stoically sucked it up and found alternative foods to enjoy.

A hell butterfly fluttered in, and he obligingly held out a finger for it to alight on.

"_Kuchiki Taichou, this is to inform you that as of today Abarai Renji Fukutaichou has been selected to return to the Seiretei, as it has been deemed by Yamamoto Soutaichou unwise to keep the same team stationed in the Living World on a permanent basis. Instead a second team will be assembled, and the two will switch off every four to six months as needed for the duration of the war. These replacements will be selected and dispatched in the coming weeks, starting with your lieutenant. Expect his return within the workday."_

A rare, albeit tired smile tugged at the corners of the noble's mouth as the butterfly lifted off again and flew away to rejoin its fellows.

Renji was coming home.

It was testament to how raw his nerves had gotten that the thought made his eyes mist and his surroundings blur. A well of sorrowful longing bubbled up in his chest.

A moment later it was swiftly followed by irritation. His reiatsu pulsed agitatedly.

'_Enough, get a hold of yourself! War was never meant to cater to people's desires and sending him away was a necessary sacrifice. Be grateful that he's coming back alive and instead think about what you are going to do once he returns. Stop pining like a child!'_

As he settled and went back to reading the document in front of him, Byakuya could hear the soft sound of someone stumbling, followed by the sound of papers hitting the ground.

'_Clumsy. Whatever they dropped better be put back in its proper arrangement. Whoever it was will be doing drills in the courtyard until midnight if anything gets delayed because one more file got mixed up…' _

He looked over at the clock.

Eleven-thirty. If left to his own devices, Renji would only just be getting out of bed around now. Especially if Matsumoto fukutaichou and his Eleventh Division companions had convinced him to go out drinking. It was entirely possible he wouldn't actually report to the office until the workday was almost ended.

He turned back again to the report he'd almost finished with. There was still the entire afternoon and evening left before work hours were over, and more paperwork than he cared to really think about that he would need to get done if he was to actually finish his day on time and be able to celebrate his lover's return. Whenever that lover decided to finally show up…

Absently, as he read the next report his left hand reached out and plucked a couple of the raspberries out of the bowl sitting next to him.

Those were probably the strangest stress symptom he'd experienced thus far. Not long after he'd found he was unable to stomach spicy cuisine anymore, he'd suddenly found himself with a desire for raspberries instead. At least they weren't an objectionable alternative. They weren't unhealthy, and while fruits usually weren't a favorite food of his thanks to their abundant sweetness, at least raspberries had a nice, sharp tartness that his tongue appreciated.

The best thing about them was that so long as they didn't get crushed they weren't messy. He could keep a supply of them on his desk and pick at them as his finicky stomach allowed, thus making sure that despite the on-and-off nausea he'd suffered, he was still getting _some_ sort of nourishment.

'_Although,'_ he thought ruefully, looking down at the moderate curve of stomach that had once been a beautiful set of washboard abs, _'Considering the amount of sugar found in fruits, and the lack of opportunities to get out of the office and onto the training grounds in the last few months, it might be prudent to cut back.'_

There was a time that he could have eaten anything, not moved for a month, and still not gained any weight. His metabolism had driven his servants up a wall trying to keep enough calories in him that he didn't go underweight. Looking at himself now it was apparent that his metabolism and stress were not friendly acquaintances.

He wasn't proud of it. His health was something he took great care with, to keep himself in the best shape to serve his clan and the Seiretei. It reflected poorly on everyone around him that he was—dare he say it?—getting fat, and as much as the vicious remarks of his peers had hurt him, he didn't feel entirely undeserving of them. The noble suppressed the urge to sigh miserably. His physical condition was getting out of hand and needed to be dealt with, but he tried to consol himself with the knowledge that as soon as Renji got back, they would coordinate something together so he could get himself back into shape and functioning like he used to.

That is, once the fukutaichou picked himself up off the floor and managed to stop laughing. Byakuya had no illusions that he would probably find the image of an overweight taichou to be utterly hilarious. He just hoped it didn't carry over into the bedroom. He wanted to believe Renji wasn't the kind of person who would hold his lover's appearance against him, but experience had always taught him to brace for the worst.

The threat of ridicule from the person he'd come to care about the most was enough to make him feel nauseous again.

Another hell butterfly flew towards him, and once again he held out a finger for it to land on.

"_Kuchiki Taichou, please assemble a team of three to accompany a member of Division Twelve to Hueco Mundo, to act as guards and assist in gathering information on a new type of hollow believed to have been discovered. We leave the selection of personnel to your discretion, but advise the assigning of seated officers as the area is within 16 kilometers of Las Noches, and this same hollow is believed responsible for the severe injuries sustained by the Squad Nine unit last sent on reconnaissance to that area. This mission is also recon and observation only. Do not engage in battle unless attacked first. Squad Four is unable to send personnel with you at this time as they need all available healers in triage. Please have your team ready to leave by 13:00. This mission will take no more than six hours, so only standard mission essentials are necessary."_

The butterfly flew off and Byakuya noticed the unseated shinigami that was waiting with the folder containing the mission specs in hand. He took it and scanned the contents.

'_A hollow that can create a projected image-clone. The clone being made of reiatsu means that it cannot be injured, but can cause damage just as the original can. It was able to kill half the unit and severely injure the rest, and they were only able to kill it by accident because they could not figure out which was the original before it and its clones outmaneuvered them and struck a killing blow.'_

The patter of footsteps around his office made Byakuya look up. The unseated shinigami was darting around after the hell butterfly, which refused to come anywhere within two feet of the man. Listening to his plaintive whining the noble couldn't exactly fault the insect.

"Come on, get back here! We're gonna need you in a few minutes and we can't use you if you don't get down here. Come on, _please_! What do I have to do to make you listen?"

'_Be assertive and stop looking like a two-year-old who's not to be taken seriously,' _Byakuya thought. Ignoring the other, he finished reading the mission specs. When he looked up again, the unseated shinigami was still chasing the butterfly around the office.

A wave of irritation rose in him. Was it too much to ask that, in times like these, the newer recruits work just a _little_ harder at shedding that youthful inexperience and grow up so that _maybe_ if the occasion arose that they found themselves on the battlefield facing Aizen's forces, they _might_ actually come out alive? This shinigami's antics were completely unbecoming of an Academy graduate, and incompetence was not something any squad could afford to entertain right now.

"Rikichi, get that hell butterfly under control. _Now_," he said.

"Yes sir," he replied, darting left as the butterfly feinted and banked to the right. A normal butterfly might not have been able to maneuver so agilely, but the hell butterflies were bred to be able to keep up with a shinigami traveling at shunpo-speed. It was imperative that every recruit learn how to command them, for the simple reason that if one couldn't, their ability to simply communicate effectively with their comrades was severely hampered.

The taichou turned back to the mission specs and ran through potential candidates to give it to. There were several people who could be depended on to undertake it, but an idea was forming in Byakuya's mind that would allow him to finally get out of the Division and do something besides paperwork.

'_Senbonzakura would be able to show which hollow was real and which was a fake. Send blades flying at each of them and then concentrate on killing whichever was the one to get cut…'_

But he still needed to select two others to accompany him. He pulled out the mission log and looked through the current listed status of each of his seated officers. Several were already out on assignment, Renji wasn't back yet, two were still recovering from injuries sustained in the field… Then his eyes alighted on the name of his 9th seat, Shirogane Mihane, daughter of Renji's predecessor as fukutaichou. Ginjirou had resigned his lieutenancy to run The Silver Dragonfly, the popular eye-glasses boutique, full-time. Mihane was co-owner of the business, but chose to split her time between helping run the store and continuing her career as a shinigami. She hadn't been out in the field in almost a month.

'_She'll do. Now for the other two…'_

A thud sounded as Rikichi's latest lunge at the hell butterfly sent him impacting with the wall. Byakuya's patience came to a swift end. He was the kind of captain who left it to the recruits to choose the proper squad to join when they graduated from the Academy. Once in his squad, he expected them to prove their worth as shinigami under his command. If they couldn't fit in, then an assessment would be made and they were recommended another squad to transfer to.

Rikichi had been a member of Squad Six for over a year now, having joined not long after Renji had been promoted to fukutaichou. Byakuya knew he'd joined out of a desire to be near his idol, and amazingly, Renji had actually taken an interest in the young shinigami, something that had surprised their captain as Renji usually just left an open challenge for recruits that indicated they wanted to best him. He even went so far as to make a note of it on the squad's recruitment brochure. Never before nor since had he turned around and mentored one such recruit.

Though, looking at the man currently chasing a hell butterfly around his office, Byakuya had to wonder if perhaps pity hadn't caused Renji to make an exception.

Despite his own doubts, his fukutaichou had sworn that Rikichi had potential, and just needed some one-on-one mentorship to develop it. Byakuya had respected his judgment and held off on writing up an evaluation sheet to give the two of them time to prove Renji was right.

But he couldn't hold off forever, and with the war draining them as it was, he couldn't afford to have personnel on the squad who couldn't show improvement and grow.

A quick glance at the mission roster showed that Rikichi had been cooped up in the office for months with only sporadic patrols, not unlike Byakuya himself. If that was the case then he couldn't be blamed for not improving any more than Byakuya could be blamed for his fitness deteriorating, so he was going to do a favor to both of them and kill two birds with the same kidou by getting them both out of the office.

The taichou held out his hand, and the hell butterfly immediately swerved and came to land on his finger.

Rikchi followed its path with his eyes, and blushed in embarrassment when he saw it gracefully settle onto his leader's hand. One look into Byakuya's cold eyes had him casting his own gaze to the floor, trying not to fidget in discomfort as he hoped that whatever his punishment was, it wouldn't be too severe. What exactly did the rulebook say about shinigami who couldn't control hell butterflies? Was there even a rule, or was he just going to get in trouble for distracting his taichou from work? For the life of him he couldn't remember, and it made him nervous not to have some idea of what he was in for.

Byakuya took his gaze off his subordinate long enough to murmur his orders to it, before sending it winging out of the office on its latest mission. Then he regarded the young shinigami standing in front of his desk once more.

"Get your weapon and a mission cloak."

Rikichi was startled. "Wh-what?" That wasn't anything like what he was expecting to hear. Was he not in trouble?

Byakuya gave him a baleful look. "Did I stutter? You are to go get your zanpakutou and one of the hooded cloaks from the mission supply room, and meet me at the front gate in ten minutes. Then you and I will join the 9th seat and one of Squad Twelve's scientists on a recon mission to Hueco Mundo. There we will seek to gather information on the self-replicating hollow that attacked the Squad Nine unit that was just brought back."

Rikichi paled. Oh, he was in trouble alright. A field mission with the captain? He gulped. Kuchiki Taichou had been more moody lately than anyone in the squad _dared_ say out loud, for fear of the repercussions that would follow if they were overheard. To have to accompany him on a mission where his every move was to be closely watched and evaluated…

Was nothing less than a nightmare. Oh, _why_ couldn't Abarai Fukutaichou get reassigned to the Seiretei already? At least when he was around Kuchiki Taichou was far more amiable.

"Rikichi."

"Um… yes sir?"

"You now have eight minutes to retrieve your mission gear and meet me at the front gate. _Get moving_."

"Right away, sir!"

Byakuya watched him barely restrain himself from flash-stepping out of the room. _'Good. At least that part of his training was successful. The last thing I need is for some idiot to use shunpo indoors and knock everyone and everything over.' _

He spent the next few minutes sorting through the paperwork on his desk. Anything that could be delegated to Renji was set on the man's desk, and the rest would have to wait for his return. His brush and inks were cleaned up and stored away, and the 3rd seat summoned and given instructions to relay to Renji when he arrived. He then retrieved a cloak and hood from the closet in his quarters and slid Senbonzakura into place in his obi, the weight of the zanpakutou at his side a welcome one after the long periods of absence the last months had brought where the blade did nothing but rest in a stand either next to his desk or in his room.

Not surprisingly the spirit within was asleep, dormant after months of inactivity.

'_Not for long though,'_ Byakuya thought, allowing himself a small smile at the idea of getting out and reconnecting with his spiritual best friend and partner again.

He gave the spirit a mental _Wake up._

It was unnecessary to goad Senbonzakura to wakefulness like some shinigami had to do with their zanpakutou. A simple touch was enough warning to get the spirit within stirred and on the alert. Once roused Senbonzakura would remain quiet, but at a moment's notice would snap to full wakefulness and be ready to do as his master commanded.

Ready to go, he left the office and made his way down the hallways to the exit. As he walked he was discontented to find that that damned ache that had settled in his lower back the other day was still persisting to bother him.

'_It'll go away. You just need to get moving again. Sitting in that chair for as many hours as you've been would give anyone a backache eventually.'_

It was odd though that the ache was not only in his back. His hips themselves felt heavy and weighted down.

'_Just stiffness and being out of shape. It'll go away too.'_

Rikichi was standing out in front of the gate, zanpakutou and cloak in hand. Byakuya motioned to him to follow, and the two made their way through the streets to the central senkaimon.

"Well, well. Look who finally decided to get out and enjoy the sunlight. We were wondering if maybe you'd developed some kind of allergy."

Byakuya turned to see Zaraki Kenpachi leaning against a wall, grinning gleefully as his looked the Sixth Squad Taichou up and down.

"Going on a mission? You think that's wise? The way you look, some hollow's going to think the Seiretei just served them up one of those Living World holiday hams."

The reference to his weight stung far more than it should have, but the noble shoved the emotional effects away and fired back with a comment of his own.

"I'm shocked a ruffian such as yourself is even aware of what the meaning of the word 'custom' is, let alone has any knowledge of traditions from the World of the Living."

Zaraki laughed. "Aww, first the Princess thinks I can't figure out how those hoity-toity noble households work, and now he says I can't read my own subordinates' reports? Careful Kuchiki-hime, or one day you may end up underestimating the wrong opponent."

"I have full confidence that day will never come," Byakuya said dismissively, turning and walking away, Rikichi a few steps behind.

The Captain of the Eleventh continued to snicker. "And I have full confidence that the day that does happen, I just might end up laughing so hard I wind up on my ass, seeing someone hand you yours."

They reached the central senkaimon a few minutes ahead of the scheduled departure time. Mihane was already there, attaching a band to the temple-tips of her glasses that would wrap around her head to hold them onto her face, so she wouldn't loose them in the event they met with harsh weather.

Next to her was a small, pale, brown-haired youth with a small ponytail sticking straight up from just above his forehead. He was wearing a Division Twelve lab coat and at his feet was a huge pack that was presumably filled with research equipment.

"Hi there!" he chirped as they drew nearer. His eyes widened with surprise as he recognized the famous Taichou of Squad Six.

Byakuya ignored his startled look. "And you are…?"

"Tsubokura Rin," the young scientist managed not to stammer. "But, sir, not to be rude… I know that they requested seated officers to go with me… but I didn't think this mission required a captain's participation."

"While we accompany you, I though this mission would be a good opportunity for Rikichi here to gain field experience. I believe I make up for him not being a seated rank," Byakuya answered.

Rin nodded, not about to argue and clearly intimidated by the idea of working alongside one of the Seiretei's famous captains. "Yes, sir."

Rikichi set his cloak around his shoulders and secured it. Byakuya likewise donned his own.

"Oh, before we go, I was instructed to give everyone these," Rin said, pulling several contraptions out of his pack and handing one to each of the Squad Six shinigami. "I've already got mine on."

Byakuya took the device in hand and studied it for a moment before pulling up the sleeve of his shihakushou and strapping it around his bicep. Division Twelve had developed the nifty little devices only recently, creating them to key teammates into each other's reiatsu signature, allowing them to find each other even if they were in a situation where they would have to hide their reiatsu entirely. Called a "Stealth Beacon", or SB, this would allow them to regroup and maneuver while still staying invisible to enemy eyes. The device itself was small and watch-like, and was worn underneath the shihakushou where it couldn't be seen by Aizen's minions. Soi Fon's forces had been all over them when they were first developed. Now, several prototypes and design schemes later they were occasionally being offered to other squads for use during missions such as the one Byakuya and his team were about to embark on.

Rin explained their use, finishing up just as Byakuya noted it was time to depart.

The shinigami managing the gateway's controls adjusted the setting, and the massive gates creaked open. The air within turned fuzzy and black as the connection was altered and a pathway to Hueco Mundo was formed.

Before the gateway could finish establishing the connection, Byakuya found his attention drawn away to a voice which was calling out behind them.

"HEY! Hold up!"

The noble turned and had to hide his surprise at the sight of Hisagi Shuuhei, the Squad Nine Fukutaichou, running up to them, zanpakutou and cloak in hand. The lieutenant skidded to a halt in front of him, and paused for a moment to catch his breath.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Lieutenant?" Byakuya asked.

Hisagi straightened, and met Byakuya's eyes with a determined gaze. "I want to be part of the mission that seeks out the creature that slaughtered my men. I want to see for myself if there are any more of those beasts out there, and see to it they don't take any more lives."

"That is unnecessary. We have no need of extra personnel," Byakuya replied.

"I seem to recall you attending a fukutaichou meeting once in Renji's stead, despite that being unnecessary," Hisagi countered. "With all due respect, am I at fault for wanting to see the task my men began is finished? They were surveying that area for Kurotsuchi Taichou's scientists when they were attacked. I would see to it personally that the next time I have to deploy them to that region, it is not with a failed mission hanging over their heads."

Despite himself, Byakuya both understood and sympathized with the protective spirit that inspired the other's logic. He also internally acknowledged that Hisagi was an accomplished shinigami, and in a dangerous area like Hueco Mundo his skills would not go unappreciated, so long as he wasn't simply out to avenge his fallen men.

"This is not a mission of revenge. If all you seek is to kill the beast, then I suggest you stay behind."

"I won't attack anything that doesn't attack me first," Hisagi said. "I only want to protect my Division's honor and finish what my men started."

"I am not your Taichou, but this mission was given to my squad. If you come, you defer to my command. Is that acceptable to you?"

Hisagi nodded, and with a swirl of tan fabric set his cloak into place and pulled the hood over his dark hair. "Affirmative."

The pathway to Hueco Mundo was complete, and the guards were starting to look impatient for them to get moving.

"Then let's go," Byakuya said, leading the way into the gate.

When all five had entered, the massive portal swung shut behind them.

The shinigami sitting at the controls smirked, and pulled a small orb out of the folds of his shihakushou. Pulling the pin, he lobbed it at the guards standing on either side of the gate itself. When it impacted the ground, a cloud of smoke burst free, sweeping across the area. The guards began coughing furiously, and within moments found themselves unable to stay on their feet.

By the time the smoke cleared a few minutes later, every one of them was out cold.

The man sitting at the controls grinned, pulling off the mask that he had worn underneath the stolen uniform of the kido corps, which had protected him from the smoke. He then set to work, typing in commands, and watched gleefully as the gates began to swing open once again.

"Gentlemen," he spoke into the consol's comm. unit, "welcome to the Seiretei."

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**~*~TBC…~*~**


	2. Chapter 1, Part 2

**A/N****: To avoid confusion I'll repeat my explanation just in case you read the first chapter last week and skipped forward to this one. When I wrote the original version I used OCs for Byakuya's team because I couldn't come up with an idea to get some of the series' main characters together for a simple recon mission. They are after all mostly high ranking people in different divisions with their own responsibilities. Well, apparently That Damn Muse was holding out on me! Right after I posted Chapter 1 and convinced myself to stop nit-picking at it… she gives me the ideas I was looking for in the first place. So, for anyone who was really attached to the original version, I still have it, and on request I'm willing to re-post it (though I'm thinking on Livejournal since Ffnet supposedly has a thing about the same story being posted twice (have to look that up). **

**Anyway, Chapter 1 has been split into two halves, since after the rewrite it was quite the monster in length. Part 1 is new, and shows the events leading up to Byakuya departing for Hueco Mundo, but with some descriptive and explanatory elements from the original transplanted into it. Part 2 is mostly what was posted originally, with the appropriate alterations to names. Chapter 2 is already rewritten and completely new. **

**(For full info and disclaimers, please see Chapter 1, Part 1) **

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~*~Chapter 1, Part 2~*~**

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The air shimmered and darkened as the shoji doors materialized and opened. Several black butterflies fluttered silently as the five cloaked shinigami slipped quietly through and stood waiting for instructions from the one leading them. The moment the last was clear of the gateway the doors slid shut and vanished.

From beneath the hood that served to both protect him from Hueco Mundo's weather and offer camouflage from a distance, Byakuya surveyed his surroundings. Their orders were simple: scout the area. Collect any data on the numbers and types of Hollows in said area, and send the information back to Squad Twelve. Look for evidence that the hollow that attacked the Squad Nine unit was a singular anomaly. If not, try to determine how many of them there were, and how they might factor in to future missions to the area.

Rin would set his equipment up at the site of the unit's battle with the beast, and attempt to gather more information on it from there.

"Shirogane, watch Tsubokura-san's back while he works. The rest of us will split up. You all know what we are looking for. Keep your reiatsu hidden, and keep out of sight. Do not remove your hood and do not engage anything unless it attacks you first. If we are spotted we want to keep our identity secret as long as possible," the taichou commanded. The four standing around him nodded and flash-stepped away in various directions.

Byakuya stood exactly as he was for a moment, before releasing a slow breath and letting his posture relax a bit. If he was any less disciplined, he might have given in to the urge to grimace and massage the ache in his lower back. It was annoying and had been present for several days now. Hot soaks in the evening after work helped a bit, but it never fully vanished and caused his sleep to be fitful at best. But then again, so did a lot of things these days.

Resigning himself to the fact that his back would continue to hurt regardless of whether he stood still or not, Byakuya launched into shunpo and set off in a direction of his own, hating how stiff and awkward it felt, and cursing the reason he was so out of shape. Ruthlessly he pushed forward. To admit weakness was not allowed for one such as him, especially when his surroundings were hostile enemy territory and he had four subordinates to look out for.

The wind swirled around him, blowing sand against his cloak. Judging that he had traveled the distance he needed to, the Sixth Division Taichou began surveying the reiatsu of the nearby hollows. He also kept a close eye on Rikichi. Whatever the young shinigami did, Byakuya would sense it. Forgetting to mask his reiatsu, forgetting to use the SB, wandering carelessly too close to a cluster of hollows and giving himself away… Whatever he did, his taichou would be making a note of it. If he did well, then Renji would come home to find his favorite pet project still at the Division. If not, then the fukutaichou was going to have to find a new protégé, and Byakuya would just have to wait for his lover to forgive him for showing some "tough love" to a hopeless recruit before they could celebrate Renji's homecoming.

As he gathered the information for Kurotsuchi's scientists, Byakuya stubbornly refused to acknowledge the weariness he felt. This was exactly the reason he'd chosen to go on this mission, rather than leaving it to one of his seated officers. A few minutes of shunpo should not cause such fatigue, but then again it was the war's fault his body had fallen so far below even the standards he required his subordinates to adhere to. Renji was going to have a field-day when he came back and saw a pot-bellied, out-of-shape shinigami wearing his taichou's attire, sitting behind his desk, and constantly eating out of a bowl of _fruit_.

The noble could practically hear his fukutaichou's laughter already. As if it was his fault that the war decided that lower-ranked shinigami were beneath its notice, and practically _everything_ these days had to be personally seen to by the higher-ups themselves. As if it were his fault that he'd been stuck behind a desk doing paperwork to the point where he didn't even have the energy anymore to get up and get out onto the training grounds. As if it were his fault that if he even got a day off, he'd probably spend the whole thing sleeping and _still_ not be able to get rid of his fatigue.

Like lightning, the feeling of humiliation vanished and was replaced by swift, fierce indigence that someone who claimed to love him could be expected to speak so callously to him, when he was simply doing what was necessary to keep up with the demands of his responsibilities.

To hell with what anyone said about his weight, if he needed nourishment to keep up with everything then he was going to get it and then continue doing his job; regardless of how much he hated said job some days and would have killed to switch places with someone just for the sake of getting outside and seeing something other than the same four damn walls.

Byakuya was brought out of his musings abruptly as he felt his reiatsu spike. Ruthlessly he clamped it back down and worriedly scanned the area around to make certain no one—or nothing—had noticed his momentary carelessness.

Satisfied that he hadn't been detected, he proceeded to give himself quite the mental dressing-down.

'_Just __**what**__ in the three worlds has gotten into you? You've known better than to allow your emotions to get control of you since you were old enough to understand what the concept of control was! So what if you're stressed, you're not the only one by far! But you are the only one foolish enough to get so emotional lately that you're giving yourself reiatsu spikes! Are you insane? You could have been seen! If Aizen catches you out here you'll be responsible for one of three things—another vacant command seat, the needless deaths of your comrades while on a mission where there was to be no engaging of the enemy __**at all**__, or the waste of time and resources we can't afford to spare because you got captured, and being a captain Soutaichou can't leave you alive and unrescued for Aizen to torture information out of! Get a hold of yourself and figure out a way to fix your emotional control the same way you fixed the heartburn and the nausea! Idiot!'_

He was prevented from berating himself any more by the sudden vibrating of the communicator tucked into his obi.

Retrieving it and flipping it open, he answered, "Yes?"

"_Kuchiki Taichou! This is a Level 2 alert! A taskforce of arrancar have succeeded in breaking into the Seiretei through the senkaimon! Units have been dispatched to destroy them but to prevent more from getting through all gateways will be shut down and movement between the worlds will not be possible. Communication between worlds will also be disabled as we believe they may be receiving aid from inside the Soul Society. It will be restored as soon as this is resolved or disproven. Please gather your team and find a safe place to take shelter in. It may be a few days before we can retrieve you!"_

"Understood."

"_Copy that, and take care!"_

Almost immediately the signal from the Seiretei faded and was gone. Byakuya bit back the urge to curse as Renji would have done. It wouldn't solve anything, nor would it help keep him and his men safe until they could go home.

The thought of his fukutaichou made Byakuya's eyes suddenly mist. Ruthlessly he blinked to clear them. Oh, honestly! This was not the time to be missing his lover! First off they weren't supposed to be lovers thanks to the discrepancy in their ranks—both social and military—and second off Renji had a hard enough time staying on task as it was, he didn't need a lovesick captain to worry about! And said lovesick taichou was supposed to be finding the rest of his team, not letting his personal life be any sort of distraction when they were stuck in the World of the Hollows with Las Noches less than 16 kilometers away! (1)

Shoving Renji's mental image away, Byakuya focused on reading the reiatsu in the area, searching for the faint traces of his hidden comrades. By focusing his own spirit energy through the SB, Byakuya was able to pick out the nearest one—Rikichi—within seconds, and began to head out in his direction. He was careful to move with stealth, as he could sense the shinigami hunkered down in the middle of an area teeming with various Hollows, still gathering information on the beasts that Kurotsuchi could use to keep his database current and up to date.

He managed to reach the youth without giving away his presence, and paused to take several deep breaths to get his wind back. Shunpo was beginning to tax him to the point where he wondered if it wasn't simple fitness that was the problem. Unfortunately any speculation on alternative health issues would have to wait until his return to the Seiretei. For now his task was to get himself and the others regrouped and hidden away until they could travel between worlds again.

Carefully he approached Rikichi, who had his back turned to him. While it was fine in the Seiretei to flash step right up to someone, out in a dangerous area like this the last thing you wanted was to distract or startle them, which could have disastrous results. He sent a reiatsu pulse through the SB to let the other know he wasn't alone, but that the company was friendly.

"Kuchiki Taichou," Rikichi acknowledged, speaking softly. "Is something the matter?"

He obviously was expecting to be told he'd done something in error. Byakuya didn't fail to take note that so far his performance had been adequate, and that if he wanted to stay in Squad Six, he was off to an acceptable start in proving that he deserved to remain with them. But further evaluation would have to wait.

"We need to retrieve the others and find shelter. An arrancar attack has caused Soutaichou to order all senkaimon sealed until they have been defeated. For the moment we are stuck here, and we must hide."

"Hai, Taichou," the other shinigami nodded. Together they set off to retrieve the other three, unwilling to split up since they now had no rendezvous point to rejoin at. The area where the senkaimon had opened to let them through offered no shelter, and it would be pointless to return there and stand around in the open where it was only a matter of time before they were seen.

Byakuya bit back another frustrated curse. Renji and their relationship really was having too much influence on him if he was developing the habit of cursing and getting worked up at every little thing.

But the severe depletion of his energy every time he used shunpo was alarming him. It would only take a few minutes to reach their next comrade, and he was already struggling not to lag behind. He had no idea it was this bad, but then again, he hadn't been using any hodou for months. Not since his last mission almost ten weeks prior.

Byakuya set his jaw and ran harder, determined not to be a liability to his team.

They reached Mihane and Rin, and Byakuya noted that Hisagi was moving towards them on his own. He had to bite back a sigh of relief that the fukutaichou would come to them rather than him having to run again. It would give him a few more minutes of rest before they set off to find shelter.

"Kuchiki Taichou! The signal from the Seiretei has gone out and we can't transmit our findings to Division Twelve," Mihane said as Hisagi came to a halt in front of Byakuya. Rin nodded in agreement.

"It's not your fault," Byakuya repeated the message again.

They all nodded.

"As you were surveying did any of you see any cave or sheltered area where we might hide? Keep in mind it may have to house us for several days," Byakuya asked.

"There was an outcropping about 2 kilometers west of here," Mihane answered, pointing. "There were very few Hollows in the area, and indications were that there might be one or more caves."

The Kuchiki noble nodded. "Then we will go there."

The group set out. The landscape of the desert world flashed by, changing little as they ran. It was not completely featureless, but compared to the world they came from there was very little to the landscape, giving it the illusion of being nothing but sand and night sky. It was almost a surprise when suddenly the ground dipped, and the five slid to a stop, suddenly looking out over a low area with a maze of boulders and ridges spread out ahead of them.

Byakuya was silent for a moment, not for lack of ideas for what their next actions should be, but because he was trying desperately not to sound completely winded and exhausted. The ache in his back was worsening and his entire pelvic region felt heavy and sore. "Spread out and look for shelter; send a signal when you've found something. If it is a cave, don't go exploring in it. Wait for the rest of us to join you. I don't want anyone taken by surprise and injured."

They split up for a second time, every sense on alert. Being in Hueco Mundo was dangerous, even when it appeared they were completely alone. There were plenty of hidden dangers to the landscape itself; pitfalls, sudden drop-offs, quicksand, etc. More than one Hollow had been known to camouflage themselves as part of the landscape, even going so far as to make their disguise something intriguing or attractive to lure victims to them, not unlike the tactics the Grand Fisher used. Others were known to simply wait until prey wandered too close. If they couldn't camouflage, then they might bury themselves in the sand. More than one shinigami had sadly lost their life when one such "burrower" unexpectedly burst out of the ground.

But this area was doubly dangerous. Here there were infinitely more places to hide. The denizens of Hueco Mundo were well acquainted with the danger they faced even from their own kind. Places like these were almost always where the greatest number of the beasts were to be found. Here they didn't need any special camouflage, just a crevice big enough to fit into. Under normal circumstances Byakuya would have avoided places such as this for the relative safety of the open. Relative simply by virtue of the fact that there were comparatively fewer Hollows specializing in hiding in plain sight.

But now there was no choice. They were not equipped to hide out in the open for days. Hours, yes. Days would get them noticed. Most likely by the local low-level Hollows first, then by Aizen himself when the reiatsu given off by them fighting the locals popped up on his scanners. He was not optimistic enough to think they could manage to fend off every Hollow while keeping their reiatsu suppressed.

Byakuya crept around a group of boulders, one hand poised over Senbonzakura at all times.

The backache was still getting worse. To Byakuya's dismay, it was also suddenly accompanied by a familiar and entirely unwelcome sensation.

"Dammit!" he hissed softly. It was bad enough his spine and pelvis were giving him problems, but to compound that with sudden cramping and the incessant need to have a bowel movement was just insult on top of injury.

The worst part was his location. Bodily functions were part of life, and in a shinigami's case afterlife since they did eat to replenish fuel just like living humans did. But to have to 'go' when he was out in the open and could be found by either a Hollow, or—Soul King forbid—one of his comrades, was unacceptable. The last thing he needed was to literally be caught with his hakama down, making him determined to hold it. He wasn't a small child with no muscle control. Once they had a camp set up and he knew he was as guaranteed not to be bothered as he could be he'd go off discretely and take care of it.

Unfortunately for him his body had other ideas.

A few minutes later Byakuya found himself letting lose a mental string of every curse he had ever heard issue from the Eleventh Division, Kurostuchi Taichou, Renji, Ichigo, and anyone else who'd ever swore in his presence as he looked for the most secluded little crevice he could find, and fast, just as the SB on his arm began to pulse with his subordinate's signal.

He managed to locate a suitable spot just as he was certain he was going to embarrass himself. He then has to bite back a groan as it felt like his body was attempting to empty out his intestines themselves. He had no idea what he could have eaten to give himself such indigestion, but he certainly hoped it would end here and not be a continuing problem. (2)

No toilet paper meant ripping off the hem of his cloak, and then burying it with the rest to minimize the smell, and the risk of something (he didn't want to know what) being attracted to it.

He had barely come around one boulder when he almost ran directly into exactly what he didn't want to—one of his teammates, and with the scent still lingering in the air there was absolutely no way the man didn't know what he had been doing.

"Taichou," he said hesitantly, fidgeting uncomfortably. "Are you okay?"

"Of course," Byakuya deadpanned, not willing to elaborate further.

Rikichi shifted again, unable to hide his discomfort. "Umm, okay. I just… You seemed… before when we were running and getting everyone back together… there seemed to be something bothering you."

"I ate something that didn't agree with me. I'm fine now," Byakuya said.

Rikichi nodded, blushing. "Hai, Taichou. I just wanted to make sure. Excuse me for intruding."

"Was that the only reason you sought me out?" Byakuya asked, eager to change the subject.

The young shinigami latched onto the opportunity just as eagerly. "No! 9th Seat Mihane-senpai wanted me to tell you that we believe we've found a cave big enough to house us until we can go home. No one's gone in, as you ordered, but we can't detect any hollows inside so far."

"Good," Byakuya nodded. "Lead the way."

He followed Rikichi through the twists and turns of the virtual maze of boulders. The youth tried hard, but even through the slowly increasing pain in his lower regions Byakuya couldn't help but notice and take mental notes of the frequent mistakes Rikichi kept making. A slip here, a careless brush of his zanpakutou against a rock there… Byakuya had been encouraged by the slightly more competent behavior he'd seen out of the man since the mission had started, but even if he convinced the taichou not to transfer him, that wasn't going to save him from the crash course in stealth training he was in for when they got home.

The others were waiting for them at the bottom of a circular depression; in front of a low opening at the base of a small rock face about twenty feet high that jutted up out of the sand. The ground sloping upwards going away from it would reduce the chance of the wind blowing their scent into the nostrils of a hungry Hollow. If it was indeed empty and big enough for all of them, then they would be hard pressed to find a more suitable hiding place.

Byakuya motioned to the others to stay back and for Mihane to follow him. As the most powerful of the group it was best if he went in first, being the least likely to be overpowered if attacked. He couldn't and wouldn't stand to have anyone in his care ambushed and killed if there was no need to take the risk. Hisagi would stay outside and protect the other two while Mihane, as the third highest ranked, provided him with backup. Any more than that he wasn't comfortable with, since they couldn't be sure until they went in just how big this cave was. To try to cram everyone into a tight space with potentially hostile beings was a great method for giving a resident Hollow an easy meal.

Mihane lit up a kido-light behind him so he could see without having to take his hands off his zanpakutou to do it himself. For a brief flash as he slipped inside the yawning blackness he glimpsed the shadow of her short hair, drawn up in a ponytail to keep the wind from pushing it into her eyes, on the rock in front of him. The rough surface made it look jagged, and tears came unbidden to his eyes as a deep yearning filled him. Mihane wasn't the one he wanted here, watching his back. It should be Renji, who always accompanied him on missions to Hueco Mundo prior to him being stationed almost full time in the Living World.

Ruthlessly he reined those thoughts in. Renji had his orders, and he was following them. War made separation necessary at times, and it was high time Byakuya's heart got the memo and internalized it the way his brain had long ago. Mihane may not have been anywhere near as powerful or talented, nor did Byakuya trust her the way he did Renji, but she was competent, loyal, and more than capable of doing her job. She wouldn't have managed to become one of his seated officers if she wasn't.

Silently Byakuya moved forward, keeping his back to the rock wall and probing cautiously with his reiatsu. He could see nothing to indicate the presence of any inhabitants, nor the spiritual residue to suggest one might be hiding or out and about somewhere and would return later.

He made a complete circuit of the interior just to be sure, and then emerged and motioned to the three waiting members of his team to join him and Mihane.

They entered and lit more kido-lights. Byakuya couldn't help but feel grateful to his otherwise kido-inept fukutaichou for coming up with that useful little trick, and then teaching it to the rest of the squad and his friends.

The interior of the cave was just big enough that they could all fit. Roughly circular and about seven feet in height, it measured about 15 feet back from the entrance.

Byakuya nodded in approval. "We'll set up a watch at the entrance. I don't want anyone going outside unless it's to relieve yourselves. Our mission is suspended so there is no need to explore the area further. The more we stay out of sight the better chance we won't be discovered. Also, continue to suppress your reiatsu. These walls are not likely to keep someone from sensing it if we allow ourselves to become careless."

Hisagi raised a hand. "I'll volunteer for the first watch, sir."

Byakuya nodded his assent. "Who wishes to have the second?"

"I'll take it," Rin spoke up.

It was decided that Mihane would take the third, Rikichi the fourth, and Byakuya himself the last.

They returned to the outside, and prepared low-level monitors that would let them know if a Hollow wandered in too close to their hideout. Mihane, Rin and Rikichi scouted the area, and set a spider web pattern of lines into the sand, starting fifty meters away from the top of the circular incline. This web of alert lines would remain invisible and not give off any power, but the reiryoku of any who crossed them would cause a ripple effect that would vibrate back to the web's center, which for them was the cave. The one crossing them would not be aware of their presence, but the five standing at their center when they were activated would be keyed into them, and would be able to tell exactly where they were at any given time, and whether they were hollow, shinigami, or arrancar.

Hisagi had taken a piece of chalk out of one of their equipment packs and was sketching a series of symbols into the edge of the cave mouth. When he was finished he muttered an incantation, causing an illusion barrier to form.

Byakuya similarly stood on top of the rock face, hands moving in graceful patterns as he incanted another barrier. This one began as a glowing sphere beneath his feet and spread outwards, spilling down over the rock like golden water until it touched the ground, at which point the whole thing simply faded.

These two barriers would serve a dual purpose. Hisagi's would cause the cave entrance to appear like solid rock, eliminating the temptation of it as a possible hiding place to any who looked at it. To any hollow that touched it, it would feel solid as well. Only someone with a shinigami's reiatsu would be able to see the difference between the real rock and the barrier, and be able to cross it. Meanwhile Byakuya's barrier would act as a shield to keep their reiryoku from being detected by Aizen's long-range sensors. The idea was to make the area appear completely normal, so a hollow would pass them right by. It could even go so far as to sit right on top of the rock and bask in the moonlight, and so long as they stayed silent it would never know they were there.

The other three worked their way back to the cave and when all were standing around the center the alert web was given the final chant to activate it. Hisagi then settled down just inside the entrance to begin his watch, while the rest chose a spot further inside. The alert lines would only tell them when something was walking towards them. They wouldn't account for a hollow that could fly or tunnel beneath them, hence the need to maintain a guard.

In the meantime the others were to get some rest. Being without food would soon become an issue. They wouldn't suffer the same way humans would, but they would begin to weaken, and their fighting abilities would suffer as their power waned without sustenance to maintain it. By resting as much as possible the effects would be less than if they were constantly active. Considering the lack of things to do this wasn't difficult to ask.

Byakuya glanced around briefly before electing to kneel in seiza towards the back of the cave. Truthfully he would have been more comfortable near the entrance, but he didn't want Hisagi to feel as though he were being crowded or put under observation.

Known for being a perfectionist and a stickler for protocol and discipline, members of Squad Six knew better than to even think of slacking off in the Kuchiki leader's presence. Even Renji, with the familiarity and intimacy that tinged their relationship, was herded back to his desk and his paperwork easily enough with a meaningful _Look_. The trick was not to forget the time limit of the fukutaichou's attention span which indicated roughly when he would need to be reminded again. But while useful, that talent for keeping his subordinates in line was one that could easily backfire if used too keenly. Byakuya was mindful to give his men their space to avoid them becoming so wound up and anxious trying not to make mistakes that they worried themselves into nervous wrecks and made them anyway. It also did nothing for his ability to work with them or earn and maintain their trust if they couldn't be at ease in close quarters with him like this situation called for. When working with shinigami from other squads, the same principals held true.

So he made himself comfortable about as far from the exit as he could get, and mentally prepared himself for what promised to be one anxious and yet tediously boring wait.

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**~*~TBC…~*~**

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**A/N****: Yes! Finally finished. I know many of you who read the first version might sit there and think I was crazy for not simply leaving it as-is, but this plotbunny's been determined to hold out on me. It wasn't until I fessed up to not being satisfied with the first version and started the re-write that I realized the potential this fic had, and some of the fun directions I could take it in that wouldn't have been possible with the original. Plus I **_**loved**_** realizing that I had an opportunity to include Hisagi, whom I wish would make an appearance more often. He's just so much fun! As are Rin and Rikichi. I haven't gotten to the manga chapter yet where Mihane shows up (she has no speaking part in the anime that I've found, just a cameo in the Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book), but from the character descriptions I've read I'll do my best with her anyway. **

**Chapter notes- **

**1. For those of you who measure distances in feet and miles, 16 kilometers = ten miles and change.**

**2. I know some of you are going to think that this is gross and wonder why the heck I'm talking about shinigami bathroom habits. The truth is that such bowel movements are actually a labor symptom. The muscle contractions that deliver a baby would also result in pushing out anything currently in the bowels, so the body does this beforehand to make things more sanitary for the baby. However, this and the abdominal cramps can be easily mistaken for indigestion in early labor. A friend of mine's mother mentioned this once when we somehow got on the topic of having kids during a conversation. As I was researching information for this fic I came across the same notation on several parenting and medical websites, and couldn't resist using it to keep poor Byakuya guessing. ^_^ U Lol, nothing like giving the main character a false sense of security, ne? Indigestion, sure… I am so evil. **


	3. Chapter 2

**What to Expect When You're Not Expecting  
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**Author****: WhipOfLightHeartOfSword**

**Rating****: M/R**

**World****: Semi-AU, Orihime wasn't captured and the Fake Karakura Town arc didn't happen. Ichigo's still a substitute shinigami. ^_^ (Though, I can't wait for him to get his powers back in the real series, poor guy.)**

**Pairing****: Renji/Byakuya (more to be announced)  
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**Feedback****: Yes please, but no flames.**

**Warnings****: Mpreg, Yaoi, childbirth, medical themes**

**Disclaimer****: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, Shonen Jump, etc., not me. This is a not-for-profit fanwork. **

**(For full warnings/disclaimers please see Chapter 1.)**

**A/N: And we're back, to your regularly scheduled updates. No more rewrites and change-ups, I promise! I now leave you to enjoy your reading. **

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**~*~ Chapter** **2 ~*~**

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Byakuya was in seiza for less than a minute when his lower abdomen cramped up a bit. Fortunately it wasn't like the one before that would signal a need to relieve himself, so he simply ignored it the way he would a minor injury in battle.

"Kuchiki Taichou?" Rikichi's tentative voice brought his attention away from his physical discomfort. "Forgive me for asking, I don't want to sound insubordinate, but why was it that we were told to wait here? If there was an arrancar attack, why wouldn't we be called back to help, since you're a taichou and the Espada are too powerful for anyone less than fukutaichou level?"

Byakuya gave him a look of interest and something resembling approval. He was glad to see that the younger shinigami was displaying sound reasoning skills. Since Rikichi was still under evaluation in the taichou's mind, he figured it was time to test how much the man had retained over a year after graduation.

"Your question is not insubordinate, since you waited for an appropriate time to ask it. And it is a valid one considering our situation. There are several reasons we were not recalled. I'd like to hear what you think they are."

Rikichi fought the urge to sigh. He _hated_ pop-quizzes back when he was in school, and honestly, he was wondering just _why _he didn't do the sensible thing and transfer to another squad where the people were a little more laid back and not so uptight and conduct-obsessed. It wasn't even that Squad Six had a thing for doing things by the rulebook. That was a perfectly acceptable trait to have. Where Rikichi had issues with his squad mates was their over-the-top formality and primness. There were days he thought hearing laughter in the office might shock someone into a heart attack.

Honestly, why again was he trying so hard to prove to Kuchiki Taichou that he shouldn't be transferred?

Because how many people could say that they not only managed to get the attention of their hero, but that they alone managed to inspire him to train them? That their hero alone out of everyone looked at him and said that he wasn't hopeless, and then set time aside every day to work with him to prove that?

It was because of Abarai Renji that he joined this squad, and it was because he was determined to prove that his hero wasn't wrong, wasn't wasting his time training him, that he was going to jump through whatever hoops were asked, and be ready and waiting on the Squad Six training grounds when the fukutaichou returned.

Rikichi turned the situation over in his head. If it were his decision, why would he shut down the senkaimon and prevent fighters with the ability of taking on arrancar from coming home, especially when there were so few in the Seiretei capable of countering such foes?

'_So few… of course! Duh!'_

"The sooner they shut down the senkaimon, the sooner the arrancar would be cut off! Their forces would be limited until they could get a garganta open, and the Seiretei has emergency defenses against that. They also wouldn't be able to retreat. So it would only be a matter of cornering them and wearing them down," he said.

Byakuya nodded once in approval. "Exactly. Hisagi Fukutaichou and I are only two fighters. By the time we returned, a dozen arrancar could have already gotten in ahead of us. The fact that our communications with the Seiretei were cut off mere seconds after I received our new orders suggests that they were not willing or not able to wait for us to travel back through the precipice world. For us to get stuck between Hueco Mundo and the Seiretei would have been more disastrous than waiting here for the senkaimon to be reactivated. What else can you tell me?"

Bolstered by the first successful answer, Rikichi didn't miss a beat, reciting lessons he'd thought he'd never had to recite again coming to mind with an ease that surprised him.

"There are different levels of shutdown for the senkaimon. The central senkaimon is the power source for all other inter-world gates, or 'lesser senkaimon'. It also acts as a navigation point, allowing us to triangulate and not only travel between worlds, but directly from one location in the Living World to another, or between the Living World and Hueco Mundo—without having to detour back to the Seiretei first. We can also use it as we did earlier and open a gate to Hueco Mundo from the Seiretei, just as the hollows can open a garganta to the Soul Society.

In cases like this the senkaimon could be limited to only directly transport shinigami between the Seiretei and Living World, Seiretei and Hueco Mundo, or Hueco Mundo and the Living World, or we could allow people to travel away from one of the three locations, but not back. Complete shutdown means that we have no use of either the central gate, or lesser gates since they rely on the central one for power, and we'd get lost in the precipice world without the central senkaimon to show us where we are in relation to any destination we could be heading to. In extreme cases the Seiretei can also activate a barrier against the garganta used by hollows and arrancar, but that would seal off our dimension so thoroughly that it would be impossible for konso'ed souls to make the journey to the Soul Society, so it can't be used any longer than is absolutely necessary, or innocent souls could be lost in the crossing and be destroyed in the precipice."

Byakuya was satisfied. _'Not a bad memory. So he's proficient as far as basic knowledge is concerned.' _

The noble decided there was no point in keeping the reason that barrier had been activated from the others.

"That barrier is the reason we will be unable to send communications of any kind, or escape unless we found the means to build a garganta of our own. I was told there was suspected treason associated with this incident. If the attacking Arrancar had help, then the only way for anyone to make an escape would be through a garganta. By eliminating the use of senkaimon, all they would have to monitor is the opening of garganta. By immediately converging on any garganta that opens, and scanning the reiryoku of the beings going through it, they would be able to tell if one of our own has turned rogue."

Rikichi nodded, looking relieved. "So as soon as they catch the traitor they'll come back for us? Aizen isn't going to succeed?"

The Kuchiki noble shook his head. "No conflict is that certain. But I will say this. I may be one of the few able to take on an Espada, but I am only one captain. Had they really needed aid that badly they would have ordered both us and Hitsugaya's Living World team home rather than worrying so much about catching one traitor. For that I think we can be confident that the situation is in hand."

"Oh, okay," the young shinigami said, trying not to look worried and not really succeeding.

Byakuya felt a warm touch of affection for the rookie. He was trying so hard to deal with a situation that was completely new to him. Trying to appear confident and learn from it, even though he was obviously unsettled and afraid that he might not even make it home. The desire rose in him to reassure the youngling and remind him that they were a team and that each person with him would use all of their experience to make sure not only him but each one of them got home safe…

Alarm flashed through him and he slammed down on the warm, fuzzy emotion, burying it ruthlessly. What was he thinking? Rikichi was a fully qualified shinigami, not some child that needed his mother to coddle him. He had been made well aware of the dangers he'd face if he completed his shinigami training, and by completing that training he'd by default accepted those dangers. Yes, situations like this were unnerving, even to seasoned fighters, but what he needed was to face new challenges head on, not run to "mama"—either proverbially or literally—for protection. By doing so he'd gain new knowledge and experience that he could fall back on in future situations, and gain confidence for having faced them successfully on his own two feet. It was Byakuya's job as his captain to be his leader; to command and demand. To reward and punish based on his performance. To be an example of what he should work towards becoming, and a distant mentor, while the lower seats took on the role of combined mentor and friend.

This desire to put his arm around the lad and shelter him was completely ridiculous and impractical. Where it came from he had no idea, but what he did know was that it had to be put down, and quickly. Indulging in it would only hamper any chance Rikichi had of shedding his youthful awkwardness and coming into his own as a fully trained shinigami, and would backlash on Byakuya himself as his family and squad would take it as a sign he'd completely lost it. Or that he was going soft and the time was ripe to challenge him for his birthright of clan leader and Sixth Squad Taichou.

Rikichi, fortunately, was oblivious to his taichou's inner turmoil. Considering the silence to mean that his captain had nothing more to say on the matter, he joined Mihane in meditation while Rin fiddled with his scientific equipment. Here in Hueco Mundo, where night was eternal, there was no rising and setting of the sun to indicate the passage of time. The clocks built into their communicators would let them know when to change guards, but other than that there really wasn't much to do.

Now that the task of finding shelter had been taken care of, the reality of their situation was that unless they were found and attacked, they were five people stuck in a small space with literally nothing to keep them occupied. No patrol, no forays for food and water, nothing. They had been allowed to bring no belongings other than their zanpakutou, and the field equipment issued to them to gather data with. Since Rin was the only person in the group who was a scientist, the latter held little interest to anyone but him. The zanpakutou as well were useless for entertainment except in battle or training exercises, and for obvious reasons Byakuya—and Senbonzakura for that matter—would have their hides if they tried even practice bouts with their unreleased weapons to try and kill time. Hollows might not be able to detect their hidden reiryoku, but they weren't deaf; nor were they stupid enough not to be drawn to the sound of blade striking blade.

So in the interest of not dwelling on how there was absolutely nothing to do, and how this mission was destined to go down on their records as one of the most boring non-punishment details they'd ever been assigned, they meditated. Whether they simply cleared their minds and went into a trance, allowed their thoughts to wander, or entered their inner worlds and relied on their zanpakutou to alert them if they were needed, Byakuya didn't care. It kept them quiet, kept them from arguing or getting on each other's (and his) nerves, and made it easier to keep their reiryoku hidden since they weren't exerting themselves and drawing on it. Eventually they'd sleep for real, but meditation was easier and quicker to come out of, and was a state they could stay in for far longer.

It also kept them from resorting to gossip for entertainment. While a useful way to keep up to date on the unofficial goings-on of the Gotei 13, Byakuya could only stomach so much incessant chatter for so long, especially at close range with no walls to muffle the sound and aid him in tuning it out when he no longer wished to listen. He also had no desire to have to punish anyone for saying anything out of line in his presence. He could pretend not to have heard anything from another room, but here his subordinates would find themselves out of luck if they allowed their tongues to wag, and they knew it.

The pain in his back and hips was receding. He would have sighed with relief if he wasn't surrounded by others at the moment, others who would have certainly asked unnecessary questions. Unfortunately he only got to enjoy it for a few minutes, before—silently this time—cursing again as his bladder started making complaints.

Again he tried to ignore it. But just like before it was only a matter of minutes before he had to stifle another sigh, get up, and give in to the inevitable.

Hisagi's head jerked in his direction at the soft sound of the captain's approach. "Sir, is everything alright?"

"Fine," Byakuya replied. "I will be back in a few moments."

The other's eyes were still questioning, although he refrained from voicing his query. Byakuya gave in and elaborated just a little, so the fukutaichou wouldn't get it in his head to follow after him.

"It's personal business, nothing more."

Hisagi nodded, and went back to gazing out at the sand. Byakuya exited the cave and climbed the slope, looking for another suitable place to relieve himself.

A few minutes later found him standing behind a boulder, fixing his hakama back into place and frowning. _'How is it possible to feel as though one's bladder is about to burst, but there's practically nothing in it?'_

Shaking his head in disgust at his body's antics, he returned to the cave and the rest of his team, trading a nod of acknowledgement with Hisagi before settling down into seiza once again. Whatever these strange symptoms were, he was simply going to have to stave them off as best he could until his return to the Soul Society. Once home he fully intended to finally make that appointment with Unohana. When the symptoms were something he could manage on his own, like his heartburn and nausea, depleted energy levels, weight gain, and unusual food cravings, it was not worth it to bother the very busy healer. But when they started becoming a factor and a potentially dangerous nuisance while he was in the field, then a professional opinion was required.

For now, though, he allowed his mind to drift off into meditation. Normally he would simply cast his senses out, looking for any reiryoku that came within range, but he couldn't seem to focus enough to do that. Instead he just let his mind drift, trusting his zanpakutou to let him know if danger approached.

**~*~Earlier, in the Seiretei~*~**

Renji whistled softly to himself as he approached the Squad Six offices. After several months of being stationed in Karakura, he was finally being given leave to come home for some rest time. Well, not really rest. More like a chance to actually get some work done at his own desk rather than by correspondence.

He stopped whistling as he entered the building. Unseated shinigami bowed and greeted him as he passed by. As he greeted them in return, he couldn't help but notice the harried look on their faces and the determined swiftness in their step as they went about their tasks like scurrying mice.

Turning one corner, he was almost run into by the 10th seat, who was hurrying along with a mountain of paperwork in his arms and an exhausted look on his face.

"Oh! Abarai Fukutaichou! Oh, I'm so glad to see you're back sir," he said breathlessly. "If you'll excuse me, sir, I need to get these down to the couriers."

Renji nodded, and felt a pang of guilt as he watched the shinigami rush off. He knew the squads were stretched thin and scrambling to operate at full capacity in spite of everything, but even though he was following the orders given to him and doing exactly what he was told he needed to be doing—protecting Karakura from the arrancar and Espada—he still felt an element of uselessness. His squad needed him, and he spent half his time sitting on his butt, doing chores for Urahara, hanging out with Ichigo, training, and the other half doing random activities just to kill time. The only action he saw for the most part were low-level hollows that any Academy graduate should be able to take on.

It was infuriating. Lower ranked shinigami couldn't even fend off the Arrancar long enough for higher ranked officers to get through the senkaimon, but by taking the higher ranked officers away from the Seiretei and leaving them in a situation where they were doing nothing but sitting around waiting for the Arrancar to show up, those remaining in the Seiretei were having to work that much harder to compensate.

'_Ugh, I feel bad for Squad Ten. They're missing both their Taichou _and_ Fukutaichou because of this crap. That poor third seat's gotta be tearing his hair out by now.'_

By now he'd reached the hallway where his and Byakuya's shared office was. It was still hard to believe that the last time he'd been here had been six months prior.

'_Sure doesn't feel like it's been that long,'_ he thought. _'Boy does it feel good to be back home.'_

As he reached out to open the office door, he couldn't help the soft smile that played on his lips. _'And it's gonna feel a hell of a lot better tonight when I finally get to reacquaint myself with a certain dark-eyed, silky skinned, sakura-blade wielding Taichou—oh what. The. HELL?' _

Thoughts of all the different ways he wanted to debauch his lover as a welcome home celebration after their work hours ended vanished, replaced by utter confusion, bewilderment, and a healthy dose of fear as he beheld what he _thought_ was his and Byakuya's office.

'Thought' being the operative word. There was no _way _he was in the right place.

The office he had left behind had been a study of the concept of yinand yang_. _On one side you had Kuchiki Byakuya—noble-born, neat as a pin, no files ever out of place, completely organized, and (as everyone who ever saw his desk swore) in possession of _some_ kind of dust repellant, because there was never a speck to be seen anywhere on the shiny, stain-free surface.

On the other side you had Renji—Rukon dog, files heaped wherever there was space free, desk (and living space in general) in a constant state of chaos that could only be sorted through by remembering the exact series of events which caused him to move things in the first place, infamous for spilling ink, food and tea _everywhere_, and no matter how often he tried to clean up and organize, it was always merely a matter of minutes before the mess returned.

But this… This was not his office. It couldn't be. There was just no way.

The room he beheld _sparkled_. It _shone_. If he didn't take the sunglasses off his forehead and place them properly over his eyes he was going to find himself blinded.

_Someone_ had absolutely scrubbed the place down. There was no dust, no objects laying around that didn't absolutely _have _to be there, no trash. His own messy workspace had been utterly gutted, files organized, work supplies stored neatly. Hell, someone had even gone through the trouble of removing the ink stains from the desk's surface! And he was _certain_ those had been permanent.

Cautiously he stepped into the room, worried for a moment that he might slip and end up ass-over-teakettle. No floor could be _that_ shiny unless someone iced it like a figure skating rink.

'_Holy shit… even the walls have been painted…' _Renji continued to turn around in a slow, dazed circle, taking in the frighteningly sterile space that he'd once shared with Byakuya, but could now have easily been used as an operating room.

'_Hey, speaking of… where _is _Taichou?'_

"Lieutenant Abarai! Am I glad to see you sir!"

Renji turned to see the 3rd seat, a brown haired shinigami named Hotaka, standing in the doorway. The normally reserved man never looked thrilled to see him, or anyone for that matter, but now seemed as though he might slump against the door in sheer relief.

"Hotaka… what the hell happened to the office? And where is Kuchiki Taichou? He should be here at this time."

The shinigami shook his head. "Kuchiki Taichou was sent on a day mission to Hueco Mundo. He took Rikichi and 9th seat Shirogane-san with him. As for your office…" he shuddered. "About two days ago, Kuchiki Taichou… I don't know _what_ came over him, sir! I swear! These past few months he's been working himself into the ground, hardly leaving his desk. Heck, he hardly leaves the office unless it's for the taichou meetings. I know he's virtually stopped going home after work, instead he just stays in his quarters here. He's even gained _weight_, and he always seems exhausted these days."

Renji felt the frown on his face deepen as he listened. He knew Byakuya was a workaholic, but not once had he heard anything in the time he'd been away that would indicate his taichou had stopped taking care of himself.

"But two days ago, I don't know _where _it came from! It was as if he was possessed. He just started cleaning everything! The floors, the desks, the walls... and then he ordered someone to come in and paint the place. And it wasn't just the office. I'm pretty sure he got to both his and your quarters as well. Myself and a few others, we offered to help, but he practically chased us out of here for not doing it right! I mean, I wasn't aware that it was possible for us to be doing it wrong! And the look on his face… I thought he was going to release his zanpakutou at me! I wish I knew what was wrong, the whole squad would cut their right arm off if we could figure out what's made him so… so… so moody! It's been going on for months! Most of the squad ends up flat on the ground at _least_ once a day because his reiatsu will just randomly skyrocket!"

By now the poor man was out of breath and looking like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He bore no resemblance at all to the quiet worker who half the time did a great job of blending into the woodwork. Renji couldn't find it in him to blame him. Whatever had been going on while he was stationed in Karakura, it was plain that things were not going well for his Division at all. Obviously they were still functioning, as it didn't seem like Soutaichou was breathing down their necks for anything, and if Byakuya's ability to function had been officially called into question then he wouldn't have been sent to Hueco Mundo. At least Renji didn't think he would.

But something was seriously wrong. In all his years as Fukutaichou, Renji had _never_ seen the squad _as a whole_ so worked up and on edge. Byakuya was a demanding captain, but he'd never actually driven his men to the point of falling over in a quivering mess. Not unless they screwed up, that is, and never the entire squad! And cleaning? _BYAKUYA? _The two just _did not _belong in the same sentence. It was just too apocalyptic. The world would have ended already, that Renji was sure of. The weight-gain thing was screwing with his head too. He knew Byakuya, more intimately than people realized (and for good reason) and he knew that the noble's metabolism was fast, almost too fast. It had been a pain in the rear to keep Byakuya from going underweight the entire time they'd been acquainted, and he was perfectly aware that the problem hadn't occurred overnight just because the taichou had gained a fukutaichou who at first had been determined to whoop his ass.

'_And now something's got him so pissed he's knocking the entire squad on their ass daily with his reiatsu alone. Something ain't right.'_

Hotaka, finished with his tirade, was looking at him as though desperately wanting to believe the fukutaichou was some kind of benevolent archangel come to save them all.

He sighed. Until he actually saw Byakuya, he wasn't really sure _what _he could do. The noble was notoriously closed off, and even as his lover Renji wasn't privy to _everything_ that went on inside that pretty head.

But he couldn't very well stand by and do nothing while his squad suffered. Even if meant he had to drag Byakuya off somewhere to sort himself and whatever was wrong out.

"Look, Hotaka, when is Kuchiki Taichou supposed to return from his mission?"

"He should be back by the end of the workday sir," Hotaka said.

Renji nodded. "Okay, when he comes back I'll see if I can't help him to relax a bit so you guys don't have to worry, okay? I can't promise anything, because I don't know what's going on, but I won't be returning to the Living World for a few months, so we'll see if me being back doesn't at least take some of the stress off since others won't have to compensate for me being gone."

Hotaka nodded, relief shining in his eyes. "Thank you, sir!"

Renji waved him off. "There's no thanks necessary. So why don't you go back to whatever it was you were doing, and I'll see if I can't make myself useful, since it seems there's nothing in here to be done."

Indeed, looking at both desks there was absolutely nothing on them. No incoming paperwork, no outgoing paperwork, no waiting hell butterflies. And yet he was certain he had yet to see anyone, seated or unseated, walking around without stacks of forms going _somewhere_. Even Hotaka had a file folder tucked under his arm as they stood talking.

"Oh no!" the 3rd seat shook his head. "There are plenty of documents that were supposed to come in here for you or the captain to look over and sign, it's just… well… Kuchiki Taichou was so insistent that this place be cleaned that the 4th seat and I were afraid he'd be mad if we put anything on the desks in a way that wasn't to his liking. He was especially insistent that any clutter had to be removed, so we figured that while he was gone we'd just do whatever it was that we could on our own, and only put what absolutely _had_ to go to him on his desk right before he got back."

Renji sighed again. This was ridiculous and way out of hand. Whatever had gotten into his lover, it was going to come to an end one way or another. Whether they talked it out, or he had to beat it out of the stuffy noble, they couldn't afford for it to continue. Not when they had a war to worry about and the Gotei 13 were already fighting at diminished capacity.

For now though he'd just have to wait, and while he was waiting see how much he could accomplish so Byakuya couldn't use work as an excuse to avoid him later on.

"Okay, show me where you've hidden our inboxes."

He should have taken Hotaka's slightly pitying look as some sort of warning, because he thought his jaw might dislocate when he saw the literal mountain of forms waiting on the poor 3rd seat's desk.

Trying not to gulp when faced with the intimidating sight, he set his jaw and deftly split the pile between him and Hotaka. After several minutes of reassuring the officer that he would take full responsibility for anything that was out of place when Byakuya returned, the two of them moved it all to his desk, and brought an additional folding table so he'd actually have adequate space free on said desk to work.

Once he was seated (and came to the disturbed realization that even his chair had been scrubbed clean) he made certain to order takeout to be delivered. He was starving and there was no way he'd be able to leave to take a lunch break if he wanted to have a decent dent made in all this by the end of the day.

The next hour was spent reading, signing forms, approving work done by the lower seats, reading some more, making training schedules, and sorting out Living World assignments—which was a much harder task than usual as it seemed that half the squad was suddenly determined to be assigned a detail anywhere but the Division.

'_This is just nuts,'_ he thought as his lunch arrived and he continued to both eat and work while trying very hard not to spill anything. Byakuya on a good day hated it when his paperwork came to the captain's desk in anything but pristine condition. The last thing he needed was to have whatever was bugging his taichou taken out on him because he irritated the apparently already irritable man. If that happened he could be sure he'd never get to the bottom of what had Byakuya all worked up, because he'd be too busy dealing with whatever his taichou decided to deal out as punishment, and being given the cold shoulder by his pissed-off lover.

He had just finished eating—without spilling—and was tossing the refuse from his meal into his garbage can when a hell butterfly alighted on one of the stacks of forms he had yet to tackle.

Holding out a finger for it to land on, he was surprised to hear Soutaichou's voice speaking the message.

"_Abarai Renji Fukutaichou, please report to Division One immediately."_

'_Huh? What could Soutaichou want me for?' _

Cleaning up his ink and storing his brush so it wouldn't dry out or make stains like the ones he was pretty sure Byakuya had spent _hours_ scrubbing from his desk's surface, Renji made his way down to the First Division offices. There he was directed to the meeting hall, where he was shocked to see a taichou meeting was already in progress.

He bowed. "You wanted to see me, Head Captain?"

"Yes," Yamamoto said, in his rough voice. "There has been concern lately regarding your taichou. Normally I would not make it a topic of discussion unless it required other Divisions to take over duties normally assigned to Squad Six, but in light of the situation with Squads Three, Five, and Nine and our being at war, I must take action to head off potential problems before they hamper us when we can ill afford it."

Renji nodded. "I understand." Privately he added to himself, _'Sorry Taichou,'_ knowing that Byakuya was going to be decidedly less than amused to find out others had been talking about him, and that his fukutaichou had fed them information, limited though it was.

"I must ask you, Abarai Fukutaichou, for the good of your squad and the Gotei 13, to break any confidence your captain put in you, and give us any information that we may use to make sense of his behavior of late," Yamamoto continued.

Renji tried not to cringe. Yamamoto may have worded it as a request, but it really wasn't. It was an order, and even if he'd wanted to, he couldn't disobey Soutaichou. Not without damned good reason, and right now, having the old shinigami's support in finding out what was wrong with his taichou wouldn't exactly be a bad thing, especially when he was practically in the dark himself.

"Sir, I regret that I have little to offer you. You know that my orders to aid in guarding Karakura Town have prevented me from returning to the Seiretei for six months. In that time I have not seen my captain in person, and in none of the correspondences we exchanged did he ever mention anything being amiss. When I returned today I was not expecting to find the members of my Division unsettled and completely on edge. Our 3rd seat, who has been seeing to my duties in my absence, was beside himself worrying about Kuchiki Taichou. He described Taichou as being moody, that he was quicker to anger and that his reiatsu was spiking and causing difficulties for the squad members to function because of their intensity."

"Oh, I'll say. You could feel them halfway across the Seiretei," Kurotsuchi sniped. Renji felt a wave of irritation at the scientist, but forced himself to ignore the man and continue.

"He also mentioned that Kuchiki Taichou has been working non-stop and not leaving the office except for meetings. He said he observed Taichou as being exhausted and that he was gaining weight—"

"Psh, ain't that the understatement of the year," Zaraki interjected.

Ukitake frowned. "Really, Zaraki, that's completely uncalled for."

Zaraki grinned, obviously finding a great deal of humor in the situation that most people would find downright mean-spirited. Renji himself would have taken extreme offense, had he not been well aware that it was just how his former captain was—rough and unyielding—and that the thinly veiled insults Byakuya would have hurled right back at him would have been equally vicious, though more elegant. The entirety of the Seiretei had ceased trying to figure out the odd half-rivalry-half-friendship the two shared decades ago.

"Stop pussying around and face it, the Princess is _fat_," the Captain of the Eleventh sneered, with that full blown, shit-eating grin he was practically famous for. Most of Kenpachi's jokes Renji would have laughed right along with, but this time—the first time, for that matter—he just wanted to let loose and crack him one. It'd be worth the severe beat-down he'd suffer just to be able to say he did what he could to defend his lover's and captain's honor.

"It's weird, though. If anything Kuchiki Taichou's always looked like he could stand to gain a few pounds. Yet he's never seemed to gain an ounce no matter how little anyone sees him out in the field. Why now? Why such a drastic change?" Soi Fon spoke up.

"It's not just his weight that changed. I mean, putting on a few pounds could happen to anyone," Kyouraku said. "What I think is even stranger is the rumors I've been hearing that he's practically sworn off that spicy cuisine he's such a diehard fan of. _That_ to me is worth raising an eyebrow over. Especially since he's supposedly swapped it for a liking of raspberries of all things."

"Is this correct, Abarai Fukutaichou?" Yamamoto asked, more interested in facts than in what was going around the rumor mill.

"I… I don't know, Soutaichou. This is the first I'm hearing of it," Renji replied, who was totally confused. Byakuya stopped eating spicy foods? He was going to have to remember to ask Hotaka or one of the other seated officers about that when he returned to the Sixth Division. That was almost as incomprehensible as Byakuya cleaning.

"Then we will speak no more of it. This is not a gossip-party. We are trying to establish whether or not one of our taichou is fit to carry on his duties, or whether we need to compensate without him while he recovers from whatever it is that is causing this strange behavior," Yamamoto declared. "Abarai Fukutaichou, is there anything else you can think of that may be relevant? And please, only state facts."

Renji hesitated for a moment, unsure. There was only one other thing, but was it really of any relevance?

"Abarai Fukutaichou," Unohana spoke, entering the discussion for the first time since Renji had entered the room. "Please do not leave anything out. As a healer I can tell you that sometimes even seemingly insignificant things can turn out to be of great importance. If whatever you're thinking of seems even the least bit pertinent to this discussion, say it. No one will hold it against you if closer scrutiny proves it to be irrelevant."

Renji nodded, still feeling silly though as he opened his mouth to tell them about the extreme cleaning frenzy Byakuya had been on a few days prior, only to be interrupted by the doors flying open and a panicked shinigami bursting through them.

"We've been invaded! An advance team of arrancar have penetrated the Seiretei, and more are attempting to follow!"

"WHAT?" Yamamoto roared. "Where have they come through?"

"The senkaimon itself, sir! Someone inside the Seiretei reset the monitors to register their reiryoku as shinigami. They knocked out the senkaimon guard so no one would become suspicious that their reiryoku vanished, from what we can tell. It's only because of a team heading for a Living World assignment arrived for departure that we even knew they were there at all! Kira Fukutaichou and Iba Fukutaichou already on site engaging them, but they'll be overwhelmed without support!"

With each word the messenger spoke, the tension in the room rose as each of its occupants fought to stay where they were and wait for Soutaichou's orders. They were not long in coming.

"This meeting is hereby suspended! Sound the alert! I want all shinigami ranked third seat and above to go to the senkaimon immediately, with the exception of the Lieutenant of Squad Five. Bring any other seated officers you feel are capable of going into battle against the arrancar. Division Four will cover the retreat for any wounded needing removal from the battle zone. Send alerts to all those on missions in both the Living World and Hueco Mundo. The senkaimon is to be shut down and sealed off immediately! Until the one who let them in is found there will be no using it in any capacity! Not even to send interworld communications! Wait only long enough to receive conformation from those in the field. Go!"

"Yes, sir!" the group said collectively, somehow managing to shunpo off all at once without causing a traffic jam at the door.

Thoughts of Byakuya's behavior flew from Renji's mind as he felt the presence of the hell butterfly shadowing him. He began barking orders at his Division through it. He never did understand how it was the delicate little things managed to keep up with a shinigami going at full speed, but he was grateful.

Hotaka, along with the Sixth's fourth and fifth seats met up with him right before he reached the central senkaimon gate.

There were about twenty arrancar, and he could see at least another five heading towards them from the precipice. Wasting no time, he yanked Zabimaru from its sheath, and wordlessly called it to shikai form before yelling "Ban kai, Hihio Zabimaru!"

From that moment, the only thought of his lover was of how he wished Byakuya was there fighting with them. These might not be Espada, but they were the next best thing and Senbonzakura would have been a welcome sight right about then. So would the rest of the guys he'd left behind in Karakura, for that matter. As he engaged the enemy nearest him, Renji could see the senkaimon snap closed, the massive doors moving at a speed that seemed impossibly fast for something that size. An Arrancar who had been stepping through at that moment screamed in brief agony as his body was sundered, half of it on the ground bleeding out in the Seiretei, the rest lying in the Dongai.

Renji couldn't find it in him to pity the creature. It was a relief that no more of them could come through that way, but the battle was far from over.

At that point everything faded into the background as he let himself be lost in the fight.

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**~*~TBC…~*~**

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**A/N****: Whew, finally done. I have to say I'm having much more fun with this now. Next chapter- Byakuya's symptoms begin to escalate, and Rin makes a startling discovery just before disaster strikes. **

**Please remember to review! ^_^ The more interest a fic gets the more motivated I am to update quickly. **

**Unsigned Review Responses****: **

**Katz- **I'm glad you like the story, I hope the rewrite is just as enjoyable for you. And yes, much humorous embarrassment for all ahead when Byakuya's condition comes to light. Lol, part of the reason I decided to include Hisagi was because it dawned on me that it would be quite entertaining once he realizes it's one of his best friend's kids he's helping to deliver. *grin* And yes, the reactions when they get home will be quite amusing… *grin*


	4. Chapter 3

**What to Expect When You're Not Expecting**

**Author****: WhipOfLightHeartOfSword**

**Rating****: M/R**

**World****: Semi-AU, Orihime wasn't captured and the Fake Karakura Town arc didn't happen. Ichigo's still a substitute shinigami. ^_^ (Though, I can't wait for him to get his powers back in the real series, poor guy.)**

**Pairing****: Renji/Byakuya (more to be announced)**

**Feedback****: Yes please, but no flames.**

**Warnings****: Mpreg, Yaoi, childbirth, medical themes**

**Disclaimer****: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, Shonen Jump, etc., not me. This is a not-for-profit fanwork. **

**(For full warnings/disclaimers please see Chapter 1.)**

**A/N****: Hey everyone! Sorry this is a few days later than I'd hoped. I try to at least have an update ready every week (for those fics people show interest in) but this week's been… interesting. As anyone who's been on my profile knows, I'm studying abroad in Japan for this school year. And if you've been watching the news you'll be aware that we're experiencing, ahem, technical difficulties regarding Mother Nature. ^_^U Anyways, being in Tokyo I'm fortunate enough not to have to be evacuated, as the nuclear troubles are 150mi north, the quake center's over 200mi also to the north, and I'm too far inland to have been affected by the tsunami. In fact, until I turned on the news and saw the footage from up north I thought the quake had been a moderate one at worst. But I digress, what my area is experiencing primarily is blackouts and train delays. The train delays are irrelevant, but the blackouts may cause unpredictable updating opportunities. We'll see. So far they haven't been too much of a nuisance, but I'll keep my fingers crossed. **

**~*~Chapter 3~*~**

It was 9 am, according to their soul-phones, and halfway through his second watch now. The rest of his team were lounging together, quietly playing some sort of game to pass the time. At least they weren't suffering from anything more than hunger and boredom. Byakuya on the other hand, felt completely and utterly _lousy_. The day before, when he'd meditated during the first watch, he'd been grateful that the pains he'd been feeling had mostly vanished, with just a vague but minor ache in his lower back remaining. But the respite had been brief. About an hour after they'd vanished they'd returned, lasting between a quarter and half a minute, subsiding, and then returning again about an hour later.

And they weren't the only thing plaguing him. His abdomen had begun tensing up slightly whenever the backaches returned. At first he thought it was just a reflex reaction to try and take stress off his back, even though as a noble he'd had good posture forced on him from a young age and didn't have any back problems resulting from any injury sustained during his career in the Gotei 13. But when he tried to deliberately relax his stomach, it refused. Instead the muscles stubbornly remained slightly hardened for the entire duration the pain flared.

It was extremely disconcerting, uncomfortable, and getting increasingly more intense as time went on. The backaches were perplexing, but this semi-hardening of his stomach had him worried. It fit no symptom of any ailment he knew of, and in the 18 hours since they'd found the cave had been accompanied by two more soft bowel movements, and several more trips to empty his bladder. Those frequent bathroom trips had definitely not gone unnoticed by the others, but he was grateful that they refrained from commenting. Not that he would have answered if they did. No one except Unohana Taichou or his clan's private healer would ever be given leave to discuss his bathroom habits with him.

The previous night he'd dropped off easily enough for a couple of hours prior to his first watch, which had come around 10 pm and ended at midnight. But when he tried to go back to sleep after switching with Hisagi, he found himself too uncomfortable to manage any more than a light, fitful sleep at best. The backache flares and abdominal discomfort were getting progressively worse, and over the course of the night began happening more frequently. Whatever this new health issue of his was, it definitely wasn't getting better on its own, and it definitely wasn't stress-related like the rest of the problems he'd been experiencing for the past—what?—seven… eight months now? It actually surprised him to realize his health had been subpar for so long. He was so used to soldiering on and not complaining that he honestly hadn't kept track. Which was funny considering he could tell anyone who asked exactly how long it had been since he'd seen Renji last. Not that he'd want to simply because it would raise uncomfortable questions.

The intense longing and ridiculous urge to cry whenever he thought of his absent lover welled up in his chest, and he ruthlessly pushed it away. Damn but he was a clingy… what did Renji call him? Boyfriend? It didn't matter. He couldn't help it. He could only assume it was a result of having lost Hisana, and having to live every day with the pain of going on without her. He never thought there was such a thing as finding more than one 'love of his life', but he did know that Renji was it. And if he lost the vibrant, outgoing, loud, foul-mouthed, considerate, loyal man, he'd never recover. His heart couldn't take another loss like that, that he was certain of. Therefore it was only natural that he'd want to keep him close, where he could do everything reasonable to protect him.

The urge to weep because Renji was somewhere else, however, was neither natural nor tolerable. It was absolutely infuriating, and made even more so by the fact that no matter how logical, how methodical, how _reassuring _his thoughts were, it just wouldn't go away. If anything, it just got worse!

Grief and the familiar accompanying ache shot through his chest, followed closely by tears. Quickly he ducked his face down, scrubbing at his eyes with the tips of his fingers, hoping that if anyone saw it they would just think the wind had blown sand in his face. All the while he mentally berated himself. These ridiculous emotional bursts had to go, somehow. He wasn't sure how, precisely, but somehow they just had to be gotten rid of. If these were normal times he'd look into going on leave for a week or two to sort the problem out. Since this was wartime he wouldn't be able to do that, unless of course Unohana diagnosed him with a serious medical ailment.

All things considered, that might not be an unlikely outcome once he described everything that was going on with him. He just hoped that whatever was plaguing him that it wasn't some form of insanity, because while these inexplicably volatile emotions of his certainly made him feel as though he were going insane, he'd just as soon find out that it was something else. Something that didn't involve being locked away in a psych ward without even his zanpakutou for company; his reiatsu sealed away and his body constantly drugged to the gills to keep him quiet, as had to be done with Hinamori when she'd first awakened.

Soft laughter behind him had the Squad Six taichou turning away from the sands to look briefly back at his men. For all that their situation was—as Renji would say—boring as hell, they were doing their respective Divisions credit with their quiet acceptance of it, and their efforts to find ways to pass the time without complaint. Whatever game they were playing, they remembered to keep the noise level down, for which he was grateful. He had no desire to break the fragile, easy atmosphere that had developed among this hodge-podge of extremely different individuals by having to reprimand them. In days long passed he might have wished he could join them, but the demands of his social status aside, with the way he was feeling physically being social was the last thing he wanted to be doing.

Byakuya shifted slightly, extremely uncomfortable and at a loss as to how to alleviate it. A few hours earlier he'd begun to feel a… pressure, deep within his pelvis. It wasn't a need for another bathroom trip, though he'd gone out just in case, and it didn't exactly feel like he was constipated. It sounded completely ludicrous, even inside his own head, but he imagined it almost like a drop of water, how the gathering moisture is dragged down by gravity and swells at the bottom, until its own weight becomes too great and causes it to drop. Except that for him, there was no dropping. Just something settling or pressing down. There was this infuriating weight… sensation… _thing_ that he couldn't describe at all without sounding completely insane, and it was making him wish he could just open the bottom of his pelvis up like a trap door and let it fall _out_! And yet somehow, maddeningly, he _knew_ it wasn't the need for the bathroom. How this was possible, he couldn't for the life of him figure out, but it left him wondering if Unohana wouldn't lock him in a psych ward after all, once they got home and he consulted her to try and figure out what the _hell_ was wrong with him.

He was tempted, sorely—no pun intended—tempted to go take a walk, thinking that maybe that might help relieve the whatever-it-was that was pressing down inside his hips. But that wasn't possible. It would needlessly increase the chances of them being discovered, and because their cave was impossible to view from a distance thanks to the depression it sat in, wandering away would make him a most ineffective guard. It would also be going against his own orders and setting a bad precedent.

"Kuchiki Taichou."

The voice made him turn away from watching the stark white sand.

"It's my watch now. The others are in between games at the moment, if you'd like to join them," Hisagi said.

"Thank you, but no," Byakuya replied as he stood so Hisagi could take over what had become the unofficial "spot" for whoever was on guard. As he straightened, the pressure in his pelvis became slightly more intense. At the same time he felt a wave of nausea, and the ever-present slight backache suddenly flared into a sharp pain that felt like someone had stabbed him through the gut with a zanpakutou.

He froze, not trusting himself to move. The last flare-up had been… he wasn't sure exactly how long ago, but he did know that he wasn't expecting another one this soon. During the night when they'd not only persisted but gotten worse, he'd resigned himself to the idea that they'd likely continue until someone at the Fourth Division could give him something to make them stop or at least prescribe him a painkiller that would take the edge off, if not render him unable to feel them. But he knew that he had at least forty minutes, maybe more, in between them. Could it be they were once again increasing in number and intensity? He hoped not, but knew that he was completely helpless to stop them if they were.

This one lasted for about half a minute. Far too long for Hisagi not to notice that the captain had inexplicably stopped moving, and was barely breathing as he fought not to react to the pain.

"Kuchiki Taichou, what's wrong?"

Of course this one question, though spoken calmly and at a normal volume, had everyone in the cave whipping their heads around and staring at both men in alarm.

"It's nothing," Byakuya replied simply. The pain was receding again, and he took a normal breath. That cramp had taken him by surprise, being unexpectedly worse than the others, but he was fine. Now that he knew they could get that sharp he'd be better ready to handle it if any more of them decided to be like that. He appreciated his subordinate's concern. It was after all the man's job to protect and serve him, but he refused to trouble any of them with something that had no bearing on their mission. Provided they weren't kept here too much longer and didn't find themselves in any extreme situation that involved extensive running, he was confident it would stay that way.

Unfortunately, his reassurance apparently wasn't sufficient for the fukutaichou. Hisagi eyed him, obviously concerned and suspicious. "Kuchiki Taichou… are you sure?"

"Yes," Byakuya stared him straight in the eye. He didn't have to glare or look fierce for his subordinates to get the message. Personal inquiries were _not_ welcome, and unless they wanted to find themselves on a week's worth of punishment detail, they had best remember that.

Though not from his squad, Hisagi got the message easily and nodded and backed down. "Forgive me, I was merely concerned."

"You are forgiven," Byakuya said, moving back to the spot he had claimed as his own and returned to seiza. Mihane, Rin and Rikichi continued to watch him silently. They weren't going to ask after him, having seen and heard his response to Hisagi, but they were obviously still concerned.

"I meant what I said," he addressed them. "It is nothing. Please do not let me keep you from your game."

Every one of them recognized the blatant dismissal for exactly what it was. Immediately they began playing again, though Byakuya could tell they were keeping their senses trained on him at all times. It was both comforting that they were so keen to see to it that he was in good health, and at the same time extremely annoying to have his subordinates scrutinizing him at a time when solitude would be more welcome than anything else.

Ah, but he of all people knew that life wasn't so kind as to be fair just because he wasn't feeling one hundred percent. Like so many times before, he'd simply have to take a deep breath, school his face, and remind himself that the situation wouldn't last forever. He'd get his chance to rest somewhere quiet and alone, he just had to be patient and in the meantime not allow his physical discomfort to get the better of him and be visible to others. Now that he knew this back problem was also accompanied by abdominal cramps and that the aches were fully capable of developing into acute pains, he'd be ready. His team mates wouldn't find additional cause to worry, because there wouldn't be any visible signs for them to see that anything was wrong. Which was as it should be. If it wasn't affecting the mission or preventing him from seeing it to the end then it was not squad business. Hopefully it would not be much longer before the senkaimon would be reactivated, and then they could go home. Although, home for him simply meant a cursory visit to his office, and then a swift trip to the Fourth.

'_You'll be fine,'_ he told himself. _'Not much longer now.'_

By three in the afternoon, he wasn't so sure of himself anymore.

Byakuya took a deep, silent breath, held it for a moment, and then released it again. It didn't help much, but it gave him something to concentrate on, drawing his focus away from his discomfort and putting it elsewhere.

Discomfort was now a serious understatement. The pains in his back and gut were getting severe, like someone was stabbing him. In between the flare-ups the discomfort was no longer abating to an almost non-existent ache. Instead he almost constantly felt sore, like he'd just given his abs the workout of their life and they in turn were burning from the exertion. It didn't help that they practically _were_ getting a serious workout. Every time the pain flared, his stomach would tighten, and tighten, until it felt like the muscles were almost bone-dense, and then they would finally release. The last few times, he was certain they were going to Charlie-horse themselves. Each and every one of them. Inside and out. He didn't think he could really describe it if he tried.

And there was still that damned pressure right in between his legs! Well, not really in between them, more like in that area but right above it, inside the pelvic cavity. And it was now being accompanied for the last four hours by a widening, stretching sensation, but the pressure itself still hadn't moved—Ohh! Okay, time to stop trying to find a description for it. There just weren't words, and it wasn't like anyone was asking anyway, which made dwelling on it a bad idea because it would make him that much more keenly aware of it.

Instead, Byakuya tried to turn his thoughts to the Seiretei. It was now twenty-five hours since they'd found the cave. By now the battle had to have been over, whatever the outcome. Unless of course the shinigami who had relayed the message had understated the situation and the attacking arrancar had been a bigger force than the message indicated. It was hard to gauge. So long as he got the pertinent part of the message through—that they were stuck and needed to take shelter—the messenger may not have been too thorough in relaying other details.

Whatever the situation was, Byakuya wished it would hurry up and resolve itself already. He needed to get to the Fourth Division, asap! His noble upbringing may have taught him how to avoid reacting outwardly to pain, but that didn't mean he didn't feel it, and this whatever-it-was was getting to the point where he knew it would eventually reach his threshold for tolerance. Already it was straining him to keep his reiatsu in check and remain externally unaffected by his ailment. But if these pains kept increasing…

The time between them was getting shorter, they were getting longer, and the time that it took them to fade was rapidly becoming a factor. Before the simple fact that they did fade was a comfort, but now the problem was that they wouldn't fade fast enough! If it continued like this eventually he feared he'd just be in constant agony.

And if they got just a little more intense, he might not be able to pretend to his team that they weren't there anymore.

Or maybe he would. His ojii-sama had always told him that people had a tendency to surprise themselves with what they could handle, whether it was a difficult situation or physical pain like his. All he had to do was focus on the present. Not the past, not the future, just what was right in front of him at that moment. Anything else could and would be taken in stride as it came. But by pushing away everything that was superfluous and out of his control, he'd find the task at hand to be less overwhelming than it had originally seemed. It wouldn't spontaneously vanish or become less bothersome, but it also wouldn't be compounded and made worse by a million other irrelevant things. If nothing else it would allow him to find better focus, and with that better resolve.

The problem here was that he already had focus, and had resolve. He even had a plan to go along with said resolve. He wasn't going to give in to the pain, and forget checking in with his Division, he was making a beeline for Unohana Taichou's office the nanosecond he came through that damned gate!

But he wasn't a fool, and he hadn't forgotten one of Kuchiki Ginrei's other lessons—anyone can be broken.

It was a lesson taught to ensure he never underestimated attempts to take his clan position from him, and to prepare him in case Soul King forbid he was taken captive and tortured by an enemy. With the right attack at the right target, or persistent repeated assaults, eventually even the strongest and most resilient will fall.

It was where he'd gotten his own saying—There is no such thing as a perfect defense. If you keep attacking, eventually something's going to get through.

And in this situation, something was getting through. The pain was wearing him down, tiring him. Without relief he'd soon be grimacing, fidgeting. Not long after that he'd be crying out, calling for aid that wouldn't come, and frightening his subordinates who wouldn't be able to do anything but stand by and watch him be in pain.

It was swiftly robbing him of any capacity he had to aid them if the worst happened and they were discovered and drawn into battle. If it were nothing but a run of the mill hollow he'd probably be able to manage, but an arrancar would have no trouble eating him alive. Or capturing him and his men to take to Aizen…

He wasn't down and out yet, but he had to face facts. If this condition didn't ease up or at least cease worsening, he'd have to finally face the music and inform his companions. If they were attacked he couldn't let them run into battle only to find he was of no use to them.

The thought of being a burden to them strengthened his mental resolve to fight against the pain, but did nothing to actually alleviate it. And truth be told, he was starting to get the creeping, horrifying feeling that it wasn't a fight he was going to win.

On the other side of the cave, oblivious to the fact that anything was amiss with anyone, Rin sat looking over the data his equipment was gathering. Even though their mission had officially been put on suspension, he was still making efforts to gather whatever information he could on the beings in this area, and the nature of their surroundings.

Official orders were irrelevant. If you were in Squad Twelve, science came first. Kurotsuchi Taichou would never let him hear the end of it if he got wind that Rin had sat around in a cave for several days, twiddling his thumbs, while his equipment was perfectly capable of taking readings and doing scans from within the barriers of their hideout. The last thing the young shinigami—or _any_ Squad Twelve shinigami, for that matter—wanted was to anger his taichou to the point of being singled out for use as a guinea pig in his next experiment.

Rin frowned as he poured over the readouts.

It just didn't make any sense. In an area like this there had to be a million places that hollows could hide, so why was it deserted?

He checked the calibrations on the machine once more. Topographical reishi-particle readings were constant, as they should be. The desert's sand and boulders were primarily made up of quartz; 80 percent milk, 10 percent smoke, and 10 percent other kinds. Subterranean radar pulses showed no underground caverns beneath them, and no residual reiryoku deposits combined with a universal packing fraction of greater than 50 percent within a 5 kilometer radius ruled out the possibility of dry quicksand. Surface readings indicated that this area was once the sight of one very large quartz structure—perhaps a cliff face or a mesa—but that it was probably demolished and reduced to rubble by some great, violent force. Over time the sand had crept in and filled in the gaps between the debris, creating the maze-like outcropping it was today. In fact, the so-called "cave" they were sheltering in was really a large, hollowed out boulder that had been half buried. The debris field in total was about 3 kilometers in diameter. If Rin had to make a guess, based on the fact that not only had whatever once stood here been demolished, but also that the depression the debris sat in was more likely a _crater_, he would say that they were standing in the remains of what had once been a battle zone. The old, reiatsu-made scorch marks on the walls of their hideout supported that theory.

Rin shuddered. Whoever—or _whatever_—had gotten into a fight so catastrophic as to have leveled a mesa and caused a crater that big had to have been frighteningly powerful. He estimated it would likely take the combined power of three or four taichou of the Gotei 13 to create an explosion of that magnitude.

'_Vasto lordes?'_ They were the only creatures _he_ knew of that could hold that kind of potential. It was a frightening thought, and he prayed that whoever the combatants had been, that their conflict had destroyed them. He hated to think that they might still be out there somewhere, or worse, that Aizen had found them and convinced them to join him.

He shook his head, trying to clear such negativity away, and forced positive thoughts in. This battle site was at least a few centuries old, and there was no indication of recent activity. In addition to reiatsu readings, he was also taking reiatsu enhanced radar and thermo-scans of the area, which would reveal the presence of most creatures—even those trying to hide—as the reiryoku in hollows, shinigami and human souls registered differently than something made up of plain reishi, and most hollows registered a different temperature than their surroundings, just like shinigami. So far, the only living creatures he could detect were himself, a few hollow lizards, and the four other shinigami with him.

His brows furrowed. _'That's funny. Kuchiki Taichou's body temperature is a full degree higher than it should be. Is he coming down with something?'_

The scientist stole a glance over at the serene-looking noble. Kuchiki Taichou knelt in seiza, seemingly meditating, as he had been doing the majority of the time that they had been there, except when he'd been on watch or when their soul-phone clocks had indicated that it was past 10pm, at which point he'd insisted everyone not on watch get some sleep. Rin could detect no anomalies in his reiatsu; it was kept tightly controlled and suppressed, more-so than he would have thought was necessary. Then again, captain-level reiatsu was immense, and varied from captain to captain. Rin had never been this close to Kuchiki Taichou before, so for all he knew it might take a very concentrated effort for the noble to hide his. It wouldn't be surprising. Zaraki Taichou for example couldn't even keep his completely contained without a physical device to aid him, like the eye patch he favored. Rin also couldn't tell for the life of him if Kuchiki Taichou's straight-backed posture was indicative of something being amiss, or if it was always that stiff and rigid out of sheer habit. The taichou certainly didn't seem like the kind of guy who would just relax and slouch a little.

Rin turned back to his readouts, unwilling to be caught staring and be asked to explain himself. Though his concerns were valid ones, the prospect of having that disconcertingly impassive gaze turned on him, of knowing that his thoughts, once spoken, could incite and draw the ire of a being so much more powerful than him, made the little scientist felt like a baby bunny that just realized it had wandered too close to a hawk. And just as a rabbit has no desire to make any movement that would bring a raptor's talons closing down on it, he had no desire to unwittingly provoke an encounter with Senbonzakura's thousand blades. The moral voice inside his head might say that speaking honestly was the right action, but the logical side of him couldn't concur.

It wasn't his business, really. If he was a healer he might have been able to justify saying something, but he wasn't. He was a scientist, and one who specialized in technology, not biology. As such it would be completely reasonable of Kuchiki Taichou to say that he was out of bounds for making such personal inquiries. It would be a different matter if the taichou was showing visible signs of distress, but the only evidence Rin had to even give him reason to wonder about the other's health was the noble's frequent trips to relieve himself and Rikichi's offhand comment that something about his taichou didn't seem right. Of course, Rin had been privy to the rumors that had been circling for months claiming that something out of the ordinary was affecting the Squad Six leader, but there was something in Rikichi's tone, something about the look in his eyes every time he watched his captain leave their hideout, that had his instincts as a scientist roused. Rikichi's reactions to Kuchiki Taichou's behavior were that of fresh concern, not the resigned frustration that accompanied long-term worry. With the limited knowledge Rin had of what for Kuchiki Byakuya was considered 'normal' behavior, he had to base certain conclusions on his observed reactions of people who knew the man better, and had spent more time in his company. The conclusion he came to was that Rikichi and Mihane, if he cared to glance her way at the right moment, were seeing something in their captain's behavior that wasn't related to the rumors back home. Something else was going on, and whatever it was had the two Squad Six subordinates silently fretting up a storm.

And then it was as if someone had turned a light on in a dark room. Suddenly and without preamble, Rin's internal logic and internal morality aligned, and he almost gasped at the brilliant simplicity of the idea that materialized without warning.

Missions to Hueco Mundo were limited, and highly specialized. They were almost never given to lower-ranked shinigami, and for good reason. With all the dangers that the World of the Hollows posed, anyone sent there had to not only have the skills necessary to fulfill the mission objective, but also the physical and mental capability to face whatever challenges and unexpected developments came about that couldn't be predicted. No one, taichou or otherwise, would undertake a mission to Hueco Mundo knowing that they were sick, not for simple recon. Kuchiki Taichou would be mortified to find out, but not only did their alert lines tell the scientist where he was when he went out, Rin's equipment also registered and recorded his actions. From that Rin knew he wasn't covering for actions that would suggest an ulterior motive behind his presence on this mission. Combined with the fact that Squad Six—and its leader especially—stood for upholding the rules of the Gotei 13, Rin had enough supporting evidence to conclude that Rikichi's and Mihane's concerns about Kuchiki Taichou were on the right track. Something _was_ wrong with him, and it had developed _after_ they'd left the Seiretei.

And that was where his brilliant little idea came in.

The equipment he had brought with him to gather information on the local hollows could easily be made run a secondary scan on the shinigami sharing the cave with him. It was already giving him basic information such as acknowledging they were there and giving him the core body temperature readings that had sparked Rin's interest. He could easily type in a few extra commands, and set it to monitor his companions with greater detail. If asked he could legitimize the action by claiming it was a precaution to ensure everyone remained in good health. After all, if Kuchiki Taichou was ill who's to say it wasn't a bacteria native to Hueco Mundo that caused it? He was only looking out for the group's well being by not assuming that hollows, dry quicksand and Aizen's forces were their only enemies here.

Rin set about recalibrating the machine. When he first set it to begin its various scans, he had input search parameters that it was to exclude himself and the four shinigami accompanying him and only gather data on the environment and any denizens native to Hueco Mundo. Of course they would still show up on some, such as the aforementioned temperature scans, but other than that they were ignored. Now he removed those exclusion commands so the machine would gather just as much data on the shinigami within the hideout as it would on the hollows without. If anything really was wrong with Kuchiki Taichou or any of them, Rin would be able to monitor it, and if not then he could just erase the data without anyone being the wiser.

Immediately the readouts altered to accommodate the changes. Rin looked over them, searching for anomalies that would tell him there was indeed something to worry about, or evidence that he could use to put Rikichi and Mihane's minds to rest.

He frowned, and did a double-take. Hurriedly he yanked his soul-phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. Still no service from the Seiretei. Pushing a button, he brought up the grid map which would show the location of all hollows and shinigami within the vicinity. It registered no hollows, just like his survey equipment, and a cluster of five shinigami soul-phone signals right at the coordinates where their hideout was located.

'_Okay, so Seiretei still hasn't sent anyone to come get us. A shutdown like the one they said they were resorting to could cause a few interworld communication glitches as everything comes back online, but once someone got to Hueco Mundo that shouldn't be a factor, unless Aizen's set up some way of jamming our communications within a certain proximity to Las Noches. We're certainly close enough for it to be possible, but even if he did it wouldn't make sense that I can see our team's soul-phone signals but not those of a rescue party.' _

Rin turned back to the data his equipment was printing out. It still said the same thing. _'Okay, let's rule out the possibility of Aizen messing with our communicators.' _

He hit another button. Immediately the cave was filled with the chirping of five soul-phones.

Hisagi, Rikichi and Mihane all jumped. Kuchiki Taichou merely opened his eyes, coming out of his meditative state so smoothly as to make it seem like the sound of the soul-phones didn't surprise him at all.

Hisagi cursed as he saw where the call originated from and they collectively turned the phones off. "There better be some damned good reason you did that, Rin, because if this was a prank I'll personally gift wrap you and leave you where an arrancar patrol can find you."

Startled, Rin looked up from his phone and was met with the annoyed and slightly angry looks of his companions. Kuchiki Taichou didn't say anything, but his storm cloud eyes demanded explanation. The scientist felt his face heat with embarrassment.

"Ah… heh, um… sorry about that. It was no prank, I swear. My equipment was registering vital signs for six shinigami, but there's only five of us. I was just trying to troubleshoot our phones in case someone had come for us but was having trouble contacting us. Whoever it is, they don't have a phone with them.'

"Could it be one of the traitors?" Kuchiki Taichou asked.

Rin shook his head. "It's not impossible, but it's really unlikely. He'd have to be using some kind of really advanced shielding, because I can't get a fix on him at all. Temperature scans show nothing, and neither does the radar pulses or echo locative imaging that I'm using to record our surroundings and keep a monitor of any beings close to us. It doesn't make sense that I'd get readings of another person's vital signs but not be able to find any other evidence they even exist."

"Could Aizen know we're here and be using his zanpakutou on us?" Mihane asked, looking nervously towards the cave's entrance as if she expected Aizen or his subordinates to materialize at any moment.

"To what purpose?" Byakuya refuted. "Our defenses are designed to keep us from his view and he would know that we have no intention of giving ourselves away. There are far more efficient ways to drive us out of hiding or challenge us."

"So then where are those extra vital signs coming from?" Rikichi wondered.

Rin gave him a rueful smile. "I think it's a glitch in the machine itself. Now that we know no one's come for us I'll just reset the machine and that should be the end of it."

Kuchiki Taichou nodded. "See that you do. And next time you think there might be someone close by who isn't a part of this team, I expect you to say so."

The scientist nodded, chastised. "Yes, sir."

As everyone settled down again he fussed with the equipment settings. Still they remained the same, telling him there were six sets of shinigami vitals, but when he tried to look for the sixth signature on the images of their area, he found nothing. Frustrated, he tried everything to figure out what could be causing what he was sure had to be a false reading. He ran every diagnostic check he knew, reset every command, double checked all other readings to make sure there was nothing else out of the ordinary, even went so far as to potentially loose valuable data shutting the whole apparatus down so he could reboot it and start again from scratch. Nothing worked. He was _still_ getting that sixth set of vitals.

'_Argh!'_ he growled, mentally. _'If I could only figure out where it's coming from!'_

He looked over the settings again, brainstorming ways to isolate the source of the anomaly. _'Well, at least we know there's something strange going on. If I hadn't chosen to include us in the data parameters, we never would have noticed it. And if it had been Tousen, or Ichimaru, or Aizen himself…' _he shuddered, glad that that wasn't the case and they weren't about to be ambushed.

'_So far as I can tell,'_ he added, then squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head as if to clear it. _'Stop. Non-factual conjectures and what-ifs aren't important. What is, is figuring out where the extra vitals are coming from.'_

He turned back to the data, pouring over it in its entirety. _'Okay, so what haven't I tried yet? The machine has been vetted out, rebooting and re-establishing the data collection fields didn't change anything, and I've widened the sensors far past the point that they should be _capable_ of picking up any living being's vital signs—oh, no wonder!'_

Feeling very foolish, the young scientist turned back to his equipment, and started readjusting it yet again._ 'It's a good thing I'm the only scientist here, because if anyone else was working with me right now, they'd be laughing so hard they'd attract every hollow within a hundred kilometers.'_

The equipment he had was sensitive, but it wasn't so sensitive that it _could_ pick up vital signs past a certain distance. He'd been so focused on long-range data gathering, that he'd gone on auto pilot and immediately widened his search grid to the point where all he was going to get was completely useless data that wouldn't have any connection to the mystery shinigami. If this person was so close that he could monitor their heart rate—which was very fast, for that matter, indicating serious physical exertion—then what he needed to be doing wasn't widening his search area, but narrowing it.

Quickly he shut down all other data gathering, so the machine was only recording shinigami vitals and only up to the distance limits it was capable of. Then he set on zeroing in on that one extra.

'_I'll do this in pulses, just like the radar and echo locative imaging. By sending out the scans in waves, the heart rate of our mystery friend will show up as a "blip" for the split second that the scan touches it. We can figure an approximate location based on how long it takes the signal to get the reading.' _

In his head it sounded simple enough. But when Rin tried it, he was in for a deep disappointment. The readout showed nothing beyond the point in the cave where Kuchiki Taichou was sitting. He sighed.

'_That's not good. Not only does it mean that I picked the wrong vital signs as belonging to our mystery shinigami, but it proves there's something wrong with the captain. If he was in the kind of shape most shinigami are, his heart rate should be somewhere near 40 bpm. Obviously he's lost fitness, so instead of having the lower, stronger heart rate of an athlete, he'll more likely have the average adult heart rate of about 60-100 bpm. But for some reason, his is registering at about 120. I wish we had a healer here that could tell me what illnesses could have both indigestion and elevated heart rate as symptoms,' _he thought sadly as he started typing in new commands._ 'It's too bad I can't do anything to figure out what's wrong with him, but what I can do is figure out which of the remaining vitals belong to the mystery person, so that we can find them and figure out if they're friend or foe.'_

Rin looked at the remaining heart rates, that vital sign being the easiest to detect with his scanners. _'Let's see… we have 41 bpm, 45 bpm, 60 bpm, 70 bpm, and 53 bpm.'_ He opened his soul-phone, put his first two fingers over his carotid, and watched one minute go by on the clock while he counted his heart rate. _'70. Okay, so that one's mine… never did have a knack for keeping up with physical fitness.'_

Next he put the 41 bpm reading into the machine, sent out the pulse, and it came back as Hisagi's. 53 came back as Mihane's, and 45 as Rikichi's.

'_So, 60 bpm it is.'_ Rin quickly put the data into the scanner, and hit the button.

Only to have it register where Captain Kuchiki was sitting also.

'_What the hell did I do wrong now?'_

Rin wasn't given time to ponder this, as the ground suddenly exploded from underneath him.

Sand flew everywhere. Mihane and Rikichi cried out in shock and Hisagi grunted in surprise. Byakuya's eyes flew open again, physical discomfort forgotten as he came to his feet, simultaneously drawing his zanpakutou.

Sand was raining down, and he had just enough time to see a flicker of movement before a dark shape shot out of the dust that had been kicked up. Byakuya lunged after it, Senbonzakura lashing out to score a hit on the creature's neck.

Screaming in pain, it diverted its attack away from a slower-reacting Mihane, and regarded the source of its wound with contempt. Triple rows of serrated teeth jutted from its mouth, and eerie blue eyes glowed from behind its shark-like visage. It had a long, tubular body like a snake, and instead of hands it had what looked like armored spades at the end of its stubby arms. Obviously this hollow was built for tunneling underground and capturing its prey in much the same way a great white shark in the Living World would catch a seal; wait unnoticed below, and then tunnel straight upwards underneath the victim, catching it in its jaws at the same time it broke the surface.

It was probably a mostly effective method of attack, but this creature had misjudged its target. With the element of surprise gone, its alternative hunting methods were limited to dodging and snapping at its foe. Its body, muscular and powerful enough to help propel it through the tightly packed ground, was too stocky to coil around its prey like a snake, which also limited its agility even as it increased its speed.

As it made another lunge, this time at the taichou who effortlessly side-stepped away, Rikichi took a running slide underneath and gouged at its unprotected belly. When it reeled back, roaring in outrage, the now-recovered Mihane met it from the rear, plunging her zanpakutou into the hollow's spine. It thrashed, doing more damage as she was thrown clear, her weapon wrenching away from the wound and tearing it open further.

Hisagi bolted forward, and plunged his zanpakutou into the mask, twisting the blade and widening the crack before dragging it sideways. Half the mask fell away, and the hollow shrieked one last time as it collapsed and its body dissolved.

"Rin!" Mihane cried out as she picked herself up from the floor and sheathed her zanpakutou. "Are you hurt?"

The scientist sat huddled against the wall, a look of terror in his eyes. "I'm okay," he said, shakily. Truthfully he looked anything but, and no one was surprised when he suddenly shot to his feet and bolted out of the cave. Not two seconds later his companions heard the sound of retching.

"Oh, no. I'll go help him," Rikichi said, exiting after him.

"He was lucky," Hisagi shook his head, cleaning off his blade on his hakama and putting it away. "That thing missed him by inches."

Byakuya nodded in agreement. "Would that his equipment had been so lucky as well."

Knowing that Rin was alright, Byakuya didn't concern himself so much with the young shinigami's reaction. Rikichi would get him sorted out, and maybe it would be a lesson to the Twelfth Division member that next time there was a mission to an area as dangerous as Hueco Mundo, he should leave it to people with better combat skills and experience. Even Rikichi, who had never been to Hueco Mundo before and probably didn't know half of what Rin did about it, had fared far better.

Sheathing Senbonzakura, Byakuya made mental notes of the fight, storing the information in the back of his mind so that later, when they had returned home, it could be used to benefit them for future endeavors. Mihane would be recommended for speed exercises to work on her reaction time. It had been far too slow and had he not come to her aid she would have found herself seriously wounded if not killed and he would have been out a seated officer. Hisagi's performance was adequate, but none of the Sixth Squad taichou's concern as he was not Byakuya's subordinate. It was Rikichi though whose performance the noble found particularly satisfying. His maneuver was quick, soundly strategized, and effective. If that was what Renji had been talking about when he said that the young recruit wasn't hopeless, then Byakuya had to agree. So far as he was concerned, Renji had his approval if he wanted to continue mentoring Rikichi and see what that potential might grow into.

His gut was killing him, another pain building and making his knees feel weak. As gracefully as he could, Byakuya returned to seiza, hoping that he didn't look as ungainly and awkward as he felt. He ignored the questioning glances of Hisagi and Mihane, both no doubt wondering how he could feel at ease enough to be off his feet so soon after an attack when they hadn't even confirmed that the hollow had been alone.

He was spared potential questions as Rin came bolting back into the hideout, Rikichi a few steps behind.

"Oh no!" the scientist wailed as he skidded to a halt and fell to his knees, scooping the remains of his surveillance module up in his hands.

The device, which to Byakuya resembled something out of one of those Living World sci-fi movies Renji had told him about, was decimated. The clawed hand whose ink-filled nails had etched out data onto page after page was torn out, the single eyeball—seemingly based in design after that of a slug—hung on by only a few wires. When the hollow had erupted out of the ground, its jaws had clamped down on the machine, no doubt attracted to the reiatsu-enhanced pulses it was sending out to collect its data with. Its main body was ripped in half, and from what Byakuya could see, it was far too shredded to attempt repairs. Rin would not be so upset if it was something he could fix, and Byakuya suspected that if they were home it would have been discarded anyway since it would have been easier to replace and it was doubtful any data would be left intact that was worth recovering.

Rin sniffed. "Kurotsuchi Taichou's going to be so mad. He's going to blame me because we didn't get half the data we came for."

"I will make a personal note to him that you were not to blame," Byakuya said. He was well aware of how little regard the captain of the Twelfth had for his subordinates, but the young shinigami had not done anything to deserve censure. The captain of the Sixth only believed in punishing those who were negligible, not those who simply suffered misfortune.

"But maybe I am! I was trying to isolate the anomaly that was telling me there are six shinigami here!" Rin cried. "I turned off all other functions, because none of my troubleshooting was turning up the glitch that was causing that reading. Maybe if I'd kept the subterranean scanning active, we would have had warning that a burrowing hollow was coming."

Byakuya could not dispute that, but he could offer the other an alternative viewpoint. "Perhaps, but perhaps not. You were trying to find the source of unaccounted for information, were you not? Before the hollow attacked, did you succeed?"

Rin shook his head. "I managed to rule out four of the six vital signs. They were my own, Hisagi Fukutaichou's, Mihane's, and Rikichi's. The last two were both showing up as if they were coming from where you were, but there was a 60 bpm difference between them."

"So your machine was telling you that there were two very different sets of vital signs occupying the same space, that no other scan could detect evidence of. Even from the perspective of someone who is not a scientist, that seems like faulty equipment to me. Was it assigned to you or did you select the apparatus yourself?"

"It was assigned to me," Rin replied. "No one has their own equipment except when they're working on a prototype. That device was a standard issue survey module. I sent a list of things I would need to the person on equipment maintenance detail, and he had the pack ready for me to pick up when it was time to leave."

The noble nodded. "Then it was the fault of those put in charge of seeing to the storage and repair of your device for allowing a damaged model to leave their care. If this mission had gone as planned you would still have returned to find all of your data useless because by gathering it with defective equipment you would be unable to confirm its accuracy. This will be noted on my report and I will make sure Kurotsuchi knows who to ask when he wants to know why this mission was a failure. I will not suffer to send my men into this world needlessly to protect his scientists if his equipment managers are so careless as to ensure the endeavor is nothing more than a waste of time."

Rin's face lit up. "Really?" he asked, hopefully. "You'd really do that?"

Byakuya regarded him passively. "It is not for your personal benefit. It is for my men, or those of the next Division asked to send personnel here. Faulty information and failed missions that need to be repeated only put people in needless danger. I would be guilty of negligence as a taichou if I were to stand by and let it to continue."

The young shinigami's face didn't loose any of its excitement. "That's fine. What matters to me is that Kurotsuchi Taichou knows I didn't make a mess of things. I'm not exactly a star protégé in my department."

Rikichi laughed, and Byakuya had to suppress a wry smirk. _'Of course you aren't. Why else would you have been sent here?'_

**~*~TBC…~*~**

**A/N****: Well, I could have gone on but that seemed like a good place to stop. Wow this chapter's long. Ah well, it was fun. Next time- Seiretei deals with the fallout from the battle, and Byakuya finds himself unable to hide his 'problem' any longer. Now if he could just figure out how to tell the others…**

**Unsigned Review Responses****: (if you left a signed review, check your inbox. I forgot to mention that I send out responses to signed reviews just before I update.)**

**Random anonymous reviewer****- **I'm glad to hear you're having so much fun. Yes, the idea of Byakuya nesting is a mind-bender, ne? I'd love to have a camera with me to catch the looks on his subordinate's faces, lol. Or better drawing skills. But don't worry too much about the Sixth, they're tough, and Renji's back to field Byakuya's lousier moods. ^_^ And Rikichi should have seen it coming, really. I love the fact that his naïveté makes me smile every (infrequent) time we see him, but honestly- since _when_ does Byakuya get needlessly chatty with his subordinates? Tehee.

**Thank you to everyone who has been so kind as to review. Please, keep sending them. As always the ****more interest a fic gets the more motivated I am to update quickly.**


	5. Chapter 4

**What to Expect When You're Not Expecting**

**Author****: WhipOfLightHeartOfSword**

**Rating****: M/R**

**World****: Semi-AU, Orihime wasn't captured and the Fake Karakura Town arc didn't happen. Ichigo's still a substitute shinigami. ^_^ (Though, I can't wait for him to get his powers back in the real series, poor guy.)**

**Pairing****: Renji/Byakuya (more to be announced)**

**Feedback****: Yes please, but no flames.**

**Warnings****: Mpreg, Yaoi, childbirth, medical themes**

**Disclaimer****: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, Shonen Jump, etc., not me. This is a not-for-profit fanwork. **

**(For full warnings/disclaimers please see Chapter 1.)**

**A/N****: I know I promised Renji in this chapter, but our intrepid Hueco Mundo adventurers just wouldn't stop talking. So, in the interest of keeping this chapter of moderate size (unlike the last one), we'll be seeing him in Chapter 5. Oh, and a huge thanks and plate of cyber-cookies to ichibanseiken for very kindly offering up information on her own labor experiences. ^_^U Anyone who's ever tried to look up info on what labor feels like finds very quickly that *every* mother has a different story to tell, and not being a mom myself, such varied second-hand information can be rather overwhelming and irritating when trying to hammer out a story where a character is going through that kind of experience. Makes me feel so much more sympathetic towards all those first time moms trying to get *some* idea of what they're in for. Reading "you'll just know" and "it feels like menstrual cramps only worse" and "you can't describe it" over and over again made *me* want to scream, lol. I think if I ever decide to have kids (not likely after all the info gleaned from the research that's gone into my mpreg fics) I simply won't ask. I'll just laugh at the looks on people's faces when they ask me why, and I answer "If I do will you give me an answer that's ****not**** totally unhelpful?" **

**~*~Chapter 4~*~**

Byakuya tensed in rueful anticipation. It probably wasn't the best thing to do, but it was a hard reaction to fight.

It was back, that sensation. Not a physical one, but an instinctive warning that another flare-up was coming. It was just a matter of seconds…

Like a lit flame the ache blossomed in his back, steadily intensifying until it felt like his entire lower region was one big pressure point, and someone was digging their knuckle into it. Someone with _very_ bony fingers. At the same time the muscles in his stomach were hardening, the tension rippling around his sides to his front. They tensed until they started to sharply cramp, and beneath them his intestines felt as though someone were simultaneously stabbing him and twisting the knife with one hand, and squeezing his intestines in an iron fist with the other.

His eyes were already closed in feigned meditation, but it was a fight to keep his face from scrunching up and his expression blank. His entire body became tense, and the breath caught in his throat. It only served to make the pain worse, but it was either that or fall over and squirm as he tried to escape the horrible feeling.

He began counting off the seconds until it eased up and began to fade. It wasn't a foolproof method; these flare-ups didn't all last for an equal length of time. Some were longer and some were a few seconds shorter. But counting did let him know how long they'd lasted, and allowed him to estimate how much longer it would be before they ended. Which helped his efforts to ride them out and gave him a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel to look for.

'_Thirty-five seconds, and it should be about fifteen minutes before the next one,'_ he thought as slowly his body began to relax and un-kink.

Since that burrowing hollow had attacked nearly an hour ago, the level of anxiety among the group had shot up considerably. Rin's equipment had offered an added sense of safety; that between the alert web, guard rotation, and the research module, they were well protected. The alert web would tell them when something had gotten close enough to be a threat, the person on watch would keep an eye on the sky and an ear to the ground for flying or tunneling enemies, and the research module would monitor activity beyond the sensory range of the first two.

With the equipment destroyed they were now much more limited in their ability to detect approaching threats. The guard could only see part of the sky from within the cave, and feel the trembling of the earth only when a tunneler was no more than a few meters below the surface. The alert lines only went so far as well, giving them a much shorter amount of time between when they were made aware of an enemy's presence, and when that enemy would be upon them.

The easy camaraderie and relaxed atmosphere that was shared before was now tense, strained. Everyone knew they could easily be surprised again, and the image of the tunneler coming straight up at them from the depths of the sand looped in a relentless replay in their minds. They were all hyper-aware of their renewed vulnerability, and likely to stay so until the Seiretei finally came to bring them home.

Byakuya himself was especially concerned. Not only were they now in greater danger from without, but also within. Whatever his medical condition was, the pains it was causing still hadn't stopped escalating. It was now to the point where he had doubts if he could stand without needing something to lean on. If the worst happened and another hollow got through their defenses, he'd call on every reserve he had to try and defend himself so his comrades wouldn't be compromised trying to compensate without him, but there was no guarantee he'd be able to do much.

Another pain was coming, this time sooner than the last. At least two minutes sooner, if he had to guess.

His stomach felt rock hard, his back ached, his pelvic bones felt like something was pressuring from the sides as well as pushing down between his legs, and that weird stretching sensation was getting more and more acute.

Had he been back home he probably would have been stretching and massaging his muscles in an effort to relieve the extreme discomfort. Though, if he were back home he'd most likely already be at the Fourth Division and hopefully given something that would render that response unnecessary. He might even have agreed to be put on a muscle relaxant if there was any chance it could put a stop to the horrible cramping. Baring the possibility of that, he continued to keep up the pretense of meditating, refusing to give in to the base desire to simply curl up in a fetal position and groan.

Across the cave, Rin, Mihane, and Hisagi sat in a huddled group. With his back against the wall, Rin had full view of their leader, while the other two flanked him in a rough triangle, watching discreetly from the corners of their eyes.

"Is it just me, or does Kuchiki Taichou look…" Hisagi trailed off, unsure of what words would accurately describe what he was seeing. Never in his life had he ever seen anyone look so… _tense_, for lack of a better word. The noble shinigami looked as though his body were compressing in on itself. Except for his breathing—which was deeper and faster than should be necessary—he was too still, his reiatsu too tightly leashed, and it was obvious that the effort of not moving, of holding that reiatsu in, was tremendous.

Mihane looked frustrated. "No, it's not just you. Our whole squad's been worried about him for months. I thought that since he was coming on this mission it was a sign that maybe he was starting to get back to normal. I mean, Taichou would never deliberately volunteer for a mission to Hueco Mundo if his health was in question. Not when it's just a routine recon detail. But this… I've never seen him look so uncomfortable."

Rin stared at the ground, despondently. "If my research module hadn't been destroyed, we could use it to monitor his condition. I had actually set it to monitor all of us just in case he had something contagious. That was when I found that sixth set of vital signs," he shook his head. "I never should have turned off the rest of the survey functions."

"Hey, stop beating yourself up. You didn't do anything wrong," Hisagi said, putting a reassuring hand on the scientist's shoulder. "Hell, you thought you were onto something wrong with the machine anyway."

"Hisagi Fukutaichou's right," Mihane agreed. "You heard Kuchiki Taichou, even he doesn't blame you. Trust me, he's the first to ask people who make mistakes to take responsibility for them. No one's blaming you right now except you, and that's just going to hinder you, and us. What we need to do is worry about how we're going to deal with the situation without your scientific equipment, not fret over the fact that we no longer have it. If you really need to blame yourself and mope, wait until we're home and then do it."

Rin looked back and forth between the two seated officers. Both looked sincere enough; Mihane was giving him a small smile that he supposed was intended to look encouraging, and Hisagi had his typical determined expression in place. He sighed and nodded, still unconvinced but unwilling to be the cause of further problems. "Okay, if you say so."

"Good," Mihane nodded also, satisfied with his answer. "Now, what are we going to do?"

Hisagi sighed. "Not much. We'll have to keep a sharper eye out for hollows or any other creature that comes too close to our hideout. Other than that, I don't know. I'm no healer, and what I know of your taichou is mostly secondhand information from hanging out with Renji. But he's been gone since before the rumors about Kuchiki Taichou's behavior started."

Mihane agreed. "I can tell you that whatever's wrong now, it was mostly his mannerisms that we saw change back home. I don't think they have anything to do with the discomfort he seems to be in. Rin, do you have any ideas what it could be?"

Rin bit his lip as he thought about everything he'd observed about the noble since the mission started. He came up blank.

"I wish I could be more helpful. I'm an equipment specialist and technician, not a biologist. Quite frankly, I'm terrified of half the rumors that go around about the experiments Kurotsuchi Taichou does in the biology labs, so I make it a point to stay as far away as possible and make data analysis and prototype design my specialty."

"Then it looks like we just have to sit tight for now and see what happens. Kuchiki Taichou told Rikichi that it was indigestion. I've had that myself, being from the Rukon and having had to make due with their cuisine—which believe me, is nothing stellar—and I can tell you that sitting stiffly because it's so uncomfortable isn't out of the ordinary. Neither are frequent bathroom trips. All we can do is watch him. Either it will resolve itself, or he'll deteriorate and we'll have to do our best to make him comfortable until the senkaimon reopens and we can hand him over to Squad Four for treatment," Hisagi said.

The other two nodded in agreement. Mihane then seemed to perk up, as though she'd had an idea.

"Rin, did any of the data you collected survive the hollow's attack?"

The young scientist looked at her quizzically. "Yes. The readouts got torn away but they're still intact. Why?"

"Do you think you can compile the data your machine took on everyone? If Kuchiki Taichou does need medical aid it might tell Unohana Taichou something that wouldn't mean anything to us."

Rin looked skeptical. "I doubt she'd be interested in something a survey module recorded. It's very incomplete, and really basic. I really didn't get much before I turned off everything else and started recording just the heart rates."

Hisagi chuckled. "Considering we're stuck in the middle of the desert, I'm shocked you'd turn down the chance to have something to do besides sit here like the rest of us. You've probably been the least bored out of everyone."

That brought a giggle out of the young shinigami. "I see your point. I'll get started on it right away."

On his own side of the hideout, Byakuya was aware of his team mates speaking in low whispers, but found it was too much effort to care about whatever they were discussing. He was just grateful they were keeping themselves entertained, and leaving him alone. He had no desire to speak to anyone. The pains were getting so acute that he feared if he unclenched his jaws for even a moment, he might unwittingly give voice to them, and that was something he would seek to avoid if he could.

Instead of concerning himself with his subordinate's conversation, he focused on the time. The set pattern of flare-ups, and that instinct-warning he got moments before the pain hit were of great benefit, and he had quickly come to rely on them to help him keep his composure, using them to brace himself and be ready so any outward signs of distress would be non-existent when the pains finally came again. They were now getting so bad he could feel them even in his legs. Without that forewarning, the shocking strength of his muscles cramping would have had him crying out hours ago.

It was almost the end of Rikichi's watch when it happened.

For a moment, Byakuya merely felt a strange sort of stretching and pulling, right behind his scrotum. It wasn't painful, but it was indescribably awkward and he had absolutely no idea what to think of it, and even less-so what to do with it.

Then there was a sort of feeling as though something was opening up, and then a wetness began to trickle down his thigh, soaking into his hakama.

Byakuya's eyes snapped open in surprise.

Fortunately, no one was looking in his direction at the moment. For a half-second, Byakuya stared straight ahead in abject disbelief.

'_Did I just wet myself?'_

It was inconceivable, and yet the wetness dripping down his thigh and onto his calf and ankle couldn't be denied. As gracefully and yet hastily as he could, the noble rose from seiza, and swept past his companions and out into the perpetual moonlight. At least, he tried to. His entire lower body ached and he felt crippled. Gaining his feet felt less like rising and more like staggering. It was a fight to keep from loosing his perfect posture to the urge to hunch over and hold onto his gut. He bit his lip. No longer facing his companions meant he could give up the control over his facial expressions, and use the new pain as a focus-point and make walking upright seem slightly less torturous.

He wouldn't run, he didn't trust himself not to trip and end up in a face plant, but his stride was as fast as he dared as he made his way to the cluster of rocks at the top of the rise behind the cave, which had become their "lavatory".

Once there he concealed himself and yanked his hakama and fundoushi off as fast as he could untie them, only to be met with an even bigger shock.

What was trickling down his leg wasn't urine. Up until now he'd been too surprised and in a rush to get out of the cave before his companions noticed, but it suddenly occurred to him that his cock wasn't the body part that was leaking.

Right behind his testicles, where his perineum _used_ to be, there was now a new opening. _It _was leaking the slightly pinkish, tinged fluid.

Byakuya stared down at himself in abject horror and confusion.

What the _hell_ was going on?

At the rate he was going, there wasn't going to be much of his cloak left by the time he returned to the Seiretei. With a new piece ripped off, he dabbed cautiously at the area, hissing softly as it turned out to be quite sensitive and stung when rubbed by the somewhat rough material. Well, the material wasn't rough as far as the skin on his hands was concerned, but apparently his crotch had an entirely different opinion.

To his steadily increasing horror, the trickling of the fluid refused to abate once wiped away. It came back, again and again.

After several futile attempts, Byakuya finally gave up. Of course from a standing position he couldn't see the offending area, so that left him glaring down at the top of his protruding stomach since he refused to bend down as he would need to, to properly view the rest of his nether regions. But still, it was the principle of the thing.

Instinct told him another of the flare-ups was imminent within moments. He gave a mental groan and quickly ran through his options.

There was no way he was going to be able to stay standing when the pain hit. It was getting too severe and the last thing he needed was to try to remain on his feet only to fall and hit his head. It also occurred to him that he'd been out here too long. Much longer and one of his companions would come to check up on him. He refused to be found by one of them like this. Then there was the problem of the… _leak_ itself. It wasn't stopping, and if he put his hakama back on they would just end up more soaked, cold and uncomfortable. But there was absolutely no way he could go without them.

And then of course he'd have to worry about his companions' reactions when they realized. He wasn't stupid, and they weren't blind. Beneath his cloak the state of his hakama would be hidden, but depending on how long this… inconvenience lasted, they'd notice it for certain when he stood up and there was a wet spot where he'd been kneeling. Or the fact that the fabric was sticking to his legs and not moving the way dry fabric would when he walked…

He allowed himself to huff in frustration. Renji would have been all-out cursing by now.

Oh, not again! He shoved the smirking mental image of his lover to the furthest corner of his mind, and dabbed at his eyes with his sleeve as the tears of loneliness and longing rose up.

This was _NOT_ the time for this! He needed to figure out what he was going to do, and how he was going to last until—

The pain in his back flared, the stabbed-in-the-gut-repeatedly feeling gripped his intestines, and his abdominal muscles snapped taught and hardened, inexplicably straining and cramping. The ache was even reaching his thighs now. Byakuya hunched over, taken by surprise at the new force of the flare, staggering sideways and almost tripping himself as one arm curled around his abdomen and the other reached out, groping until it came into contact with one of the boulders. He leaned against it, trying to keep his knees from buckling, the ache in his thighs doubling as he forced them to support him, breathing hard and clamping his eyes shut as his face scrunched and an agonized moan forced its way through his lips.

By the time it subsided, he was shaking like a leaf and desperately wanted to lie down somewhere.

He sighed, and resigned himself to the fact that he couldn't stay where he was and debate. A hollow could have seen him just now, and he would have been an easy, defenseless meal. He couldn't go back to his team only half-dressed, and that meant that he was just going to have to make due with wearing the wet hakama. With any luck that stupid senkaimon would be reactivated again and he could get home before it got too bad.

Byakuya gave a mental snort. Wasn't that what he'd been thinking earlier, back when the pains had been mere aches? Based on how things had gone up until now, he wasn't counting on luck anymore. It seemed Fate had instead seen fit for some reason to leave him exclusively in the hands of Murphey's Law.

With a grimace he retied his fundoushi, and pulled the damp hakama on and tied them into place, none too thrilled to feel the wet, cold fabric rub against the inside of his thighs.

As he slowly walked back to the cave, again fighting the urge to curl in on himself and to keep his posture straight, he was forced to ponder yet another dilemma:

What to tell his comrades.

It was obvious that they could no longer be left in the dark. They already suspected something was wrong with him, and based on how helpless he'd been when on his feet during that last flare-up, he'd be useless if one occurred during a fight with a hollow. With how weak he felt immediately after, even in between pains an arrancar wouldn't find him much of a challenge, and an Espada would laugh right in his face.

But what could he say? He could take a page out of Ichigo's book—since he refused to think of what a certain Rukon dog of his would do—and simply be blunt, but neither his pride nor his upbringing would allow him to be so open.

What was really compounding the situation and made him so reluctant to tell his team anything in the first place, was the fact that there really wasn't anything they could do. None of them were healers. He knew exactly the kind of field treatments they were trained in. There wasn't anything that would help him, really, it was merely things that could keep a person in fighting condition for just that little bit longer to finish a confrontation, or keep them alive long enough to get them through the senkaimon and into Squad Four's hands.Ideally, he would have preferred to have taken care of his own symptoms until he could get home and go to Unohana himself.

But this wasn't ideal. The five of them were deep in enemy territory, trying to remain undetected by their enemies, and none of them had the medical expertise to help him. Once he told them… something, they'd know not to rely on him if there was trouble, but they couldn't do anything else except sit there and worry. And worry could become distraction. The team was as invested in his welfare as he was in theirs, and the last thing he wanted was to be a liability that could put them off guard as they tried to care for him. It was the exact reason he'd stayed silent for as long as he had.

As he approached the cave entrance, a feeling of dread began to pool like a lead weight in his gut. Though he knew it was necessary, his pride was screaming at him to reconsider. Once he told his comrades, there would be no un-telling them. They would gain the right to ask questions, to pry into his personal business, no matter how much he hated it. It may be for his own safety and wellbeing, but Byakuya was nothing if not independent. The idea of admitting that there was something wrong with him, that he needed help, needed protection, that he couldn't do his duty and protect his team, was damning and made him feel thoroughly sick. And yet there was nothing he could do. He was fast approaching the point of no return, and one way or another, this was only going to end in a very embarrassing way for him. Unless of course Fate decided to be nice and open a senkaimon before he could reach the hideout.

Life had taught Kuchiki Byakuya many things, one of them being that Fate wasn't nearly so kind.

Reaching the mouth of the cave, he could see Rikichi sitting in the guard position just inside the entrance. The relieved look on the youth's face said that he'd indeed been gone too long. His suspicions that they had been about to come looking for him were confirmed when the young shinigami turned back inside the cave and said "Taichou's back!"

The other three shinigami ran to the cave mouth, and he felt a pang of guilt for worrying them, and for the fact that he was about to worry them even more.

"Kuchiki Taichou, we were worried," Mihane said.

"I apologize. It was not my intent," Byakuya replied, walking past them and returning to his customary spot in the back of the cave. They followed along, and he tried to remain impartial to their looks of concern. He knew it was time to tell them, but now that he was back among them he had absolutely no idea what to say. Anything he might have come up with now seemed ridiculous. It would have been so much easier if he was injured in battle, and they could simply see his wounds. But he had never taken ill while on a mission before, and with an upbringing that demanded he not discuss personal issues with anyone except a qualified healer, he had no precedent to fall back on.

As he knelt in seiza and tried to ignore the creeping fluid sliding down his leg, he was once again hit with that 'prepare yourself' feeling. The flare-ups must be moving closer together again. There could not have been much more than ten minutes since the previous one.

When the pain hit, it hit harder still, and this time Byakuya couldn't stop his face from tensing and his shoulders from hunching and betraying him as his body tried to curl in on itself. He was proud that he didn't cry out this time though. Looking pitiful in front of his men was bad enough, but sounding pitiful as well was just insult added to injury.

For the first time since they'd begun, the pains seemed to work in his favor. When he opened his eyes again, it was to find three very worried shinigami gathered around him. Glancing at the front of the cave, he could see Rikichi was anxiously trying to see what was going on without leaving his post.

It looked like he wasn't going to have to worry about how he was going to tell them after all.

"Kuchiki Taichou? Taichou? Taichou, what's wrong? And please, don't say it's nothing this time," Mihane was saying.

"You're right," he answered, riding out the last vestiges of pain. "It isn't 'nothing'. Tell Rikichi not to neglect his watch. He can be filled in after I've told you, but I don't want him distracted trying to hear us instead of looking for enemies."

"You hear that, Rikichi?" Hisagi said, turning and looking at the shinigami who looked like he was about to abandon his post and bolt towards them at any moment. "You keep watching for hollows. We'll let you know what's going on."

Rikichi didn't look thrilled, but he obediently turned back to watching the sands again. And hopefully listening to them as well; in the case that a burrower happened upon them they'd usually hear it before they saw it.

"Now then, what's going on Kuchiki Taichou? You asked for privacy, and we wanted to give it to you, but you've been looking uncomfortable all day. We thought maybe with how much you were going out that it was food poisoning or something," Hisagi asked.

Byakuya shook his head. He still wasn't keen on discussing his health, but it was time to tell his pride to give it a rest. He was putting his entire team at risk by not being honest with them, something that as their leader he could not allow.

"It's not food poisoning," he said. "Earlier I thought it might be indigestion, but that has been proven false. These pains do not fit any form of illness I know of. They come and go at regular intervals, and as time goes on they are getting worse, and more numerous. In the beginning they were an hourly occurrence. Now they are happening every ten or so minutes. It's not something our emergency medical training covers, and I didn't mention it while it was still mild enough that I would remain able to carry out this mission as intended."

"But now?" Rin asked, finally breaking the silence he'd maintained until that moment.

Byakuya sighed. "Now the symptoms are getting stranger and more intense. One of the pains hit me this last time I was out, and had a hollow come along at that moment the Gotei 13 would be missing yet another taichou. I am weakened in between the pains, and during them I am vulnerable and easy prey. If it comes to battle, I am of little use to you now."

The faces of all three became grim.

Hisagi pulled out his soul-phone. "Still no signal."

"No surprise there. If the senkaimon were active the Seiretei would have checked in to make sure we were still alive," Mihane said. "Taichou, I know you said our field medic training didn't cover an illness with the symptoms you have, but could you please try to describe those symptoms in more detail? Maybe we can't treat the illness, but if we can we'll at least try to make you as comfortable as possible. If the worst happens and you loose consciousness it would help us to describe your ailment to Squad Four when the signal's back up again."

Byakuya nodded, and reluctantly proceeded to describe the pains as best he could. As he did, all three of his companions' frowns deepened.

Mihane crossed one arm over her midsection, resting her other elbow on her wrist so she could prop her chin up on her fingers, her eyes cast downwards as she thought furiously. What Kuchiki Taichou was describing sounded familiar, but infuriatingly _what_ it reminded her of stayed stubbornly on the edge of her consciousness, refusing to come within her mind's searching grasp.

Rin as well cast his eyes down at the sand, letting the blank canvas it offered keep his vision occupied as he likewise wracked his brains. He too came up with nothing.

Hisagi's brow furrowed and he frowned, lips pursing as something came to mind, though he initially discarded it. It was impossible. First of all, everyone knew Kuchiki Taichou still wasn't over the loss of his wife, so the chances of him being involved were slim to none. Second, the man had never shown any interest in other men, at least not that Hisagi could tell or had heard from Renji. And if he was involved with _anyone_—male or female—it would be one of the hottest topics of the Seiretei gossip mill. If his first thought was in fact what was going on, then not only would it mean that the enterprising gossip-mongers of the Gotei 13 were loosing their touch, it also would mean that Kuchiki Taichou would be resting safe at home on medical leave, not traipsing around Hueco Mundo on a survey mission. Therefore, logically speaking, it couldn't be what it first sounded like to Hisagi. So what else could be going on?

"Are these pains and the indigestion that you're experiencing the only symptoms, Kuchiki Taichou?" he ventured to ask.

The three gathered around him were shocked as _the_ Kuchiki Byakuya actually shifted in discomfort beneath their gaze. Mihane felt her alarm grow rapidly. She understood that as a noble, her taichou would never discuss information about himself so freely as his common-born associates did. She was also aware—as was every other person who had ever visited a physician during and post-puberty—that some health related things were simply embarrassing to talk about. That he was being asked to talk about his symptoms in front of lower ranked personnel, ones who were not healers for that matter, would surely be uncomfortable and strange. But what in the three worlds could be so embarrassing as to cause the Head of the greatest of the Four Noble Houses and a Taichou of the Gotei 13, to _squirm_?

"Kuchiki Taichou… if it's something of a… er… _male_ nature, I'll happily relieve Rikichi and let you men speak in private," she said, hoping that if such was the case her offer might allow him more comfort.

Byakuya shook his head. "I appreciate your willingness to spare me embarrassment, but I'm afraid this isn't something that I've heard of any male experiencing."

The Head of the Kuchiki clan decided right then and there that he hated his body for putting him in this humiliating situation, but he forced himself to forge onwards.

"There's a downward pressure on the interior of my pelvis. It's not something I can describe, but it has nothing to do with my digestive tract," he tried to explain, a pink tinge coloring his cheeks. "Whatever it is, there's also… well…"

Oh, Kami. If he didn't die of embarrassment trying to discuss this with these people, it would be a miracle.

"I seem to have acquired another… pelvic opening. And it's leaking."

There. They knew everything now. If he passed out and they got communications back with the Seiretei then any medic that came would be fully informed of his symptoms. Now if the ground would simply open up and swallow him whole, he'd be very much appreciative.

For their part, said officers were taking it in stride. Or at least trying to. Hisagi looked faintly nauseated, Rin looked confused, and Mihane seemed to be frozen, as if her brain had simply refused to process any more information.

There were several moments of awkward silence.

"You…WHAT…" Hisagi trailed off, unable to come up with a complete sentence.

Byakuya just stayed silent. There wasn't anything else to say, and he was too embarrassed at the moment to try and come up with anything eloquent. As it was he felt as though the skin on his face was being burned by Ryuujin Jakka, and it wasn't likely he'd be able to stop blushing any time soon.

Rin took a deep breath. "Okay… just… okay. Kuchiki Taichou… oh, Kami what would a medic say? Was there _anything_ that indicated that you might be suffering from some kind of illness or… _something…_ some kind of condition, before we left the Seiretei?"

The noble shook his head. "I haven't suffered from anything other than the same stress everyone else has since this war began."

"With all due respect, Kuchiki Taichou," Hisagi said softly. "I beg to differ."

"Oh?" the noble arched an eyebrow, regarding the Ninth Squad's fukutaichou with appraising interest. "And since when did you become not only a healer, but an expert on my health, Hisagi Fukutaichou?"

"I may not be a medic, but that doesn't mean I'm ignorant either," Hisagi began to tic off on his fingers all of the rumors that had been flying around about the captain of Squad Six for the better part of eight months.

"First, rumors start to go around that you're moody. Now, normally you're a tough captain who expects his subordinates to toe the line, but these rumors are saying that you're snappish, testy, and that your reiatsu is out of control. More than once I've heard complaints that you've had reiatsu spikes that have made a number of your unseated officers collapse. That hardly sounds like the regal, collected taichou who's highly regarded for his poise and discipline, don't you think?"

He continued on without waiting for an answer, and Byakuya didn't offer one.

"Second, you begin to gain weight. Thing is, no one's ever seen you gain so much as a pound, no matter how few and far between your field missions seem to the rest of us. Now, I know you work hard to maintain your battle prowess, but you have to remember that your fukutaichou is one of my close friends. He's mentioned a couple times that he worries about your metabolism being too fast for his liking, and that everyone's always concerned about keeping you from burning too many calories. If you could sit at a desk and not gain weight before, then why would that change so suddenly, especially when there's no accompanying rumor that you've also begun eating like Oomaeda Fukutaichou, as I'd suspect you'd need to, to gain the weight you have. Given that, I think you'll understand why I have to wonder what could be causing such a thing instead of doing what I normally do and ignoring it since it's none of my business and I have absolutely no time to worry about people who are not even in my squad."

Mihane had been paying attention to Hisagi's speech with curiosity, but her eyes were slowly widening with dawning realization as she thought she might be catching on to his train of thought. As her mind finally relinquished the memory that had so frustratingly eluded her before, her gaze slowly turned to regard her taichou with no little wonder, and a mounting fear, her jaw opening and closing in a comical manner not unlike that of a fish.

"Oh dear Kami…"

Byakuya ignored her, as Hisagi wasn't done.

"Third, rumors start flying around that you've sworn off of spicy foods, and begun keeping a bowl of raspberries at hand most of the time, even though everyone knows you hate sweet things, and most fruits definitely fall into that category."

Byakuya was getting annoyed. He couldn't see where the Ninth Divisioner was going with this speech, and another pain was due to hit within minutes.

"Kindly make your point, Hisagi Fukutaichou. I fail to see how any of this has any bearing on what's happening to me right now, and I have little patience for useless gossip."

Hisagi regarded him with a calm, speculative gaze. "Tell me something. Why did you stop eating spicy foods, and start keeping a bowl of fruit on your desk?"

"Why do you want to know?" Byakuya countered evasively, returning the fukutaichou's gaze. This was not something he wanted to discuss. The potential gossip fallout that would result from him having fallen ill on a mission—especially having already disclosed the full nature of his symptoms—was bad enough, but to be asked to elaborate on rumors that were already flying around, and unflattering ones at that, was just as distasteful.

"Because it has something to do with the point I'm trying to make, and I believe it also has something to do with the current situation," Hisagi replied.

They stared at each other for a moment; intense, searching grey eyes meeting equally serious, sincere-looking grey eyes. Byakuya was habitually cautious, but he couldn't see any indication that the other was simply taking advantage of the situation to glean more information from him. It wasn't that he wanted to think ill of the fukutaichou, it just hadn't left his mind for a moment that Squad Nine was the squad in charge of writing, editing and printing the Seiretei's newspaper. And as fukutaichou and acting captain, Hisagi was editor in chief.

Still, Renji trusted him, which meant something to the red-head's taichou. And the few times they'd interacted, never had Byakuya gotten the impression himself that Hisagi wasn't trustworthy. That also meant something, as growing up in a noble household meant learning to look beneath the surface and read between the lines to see the true motives everyone kept hidden. Right now he could detect no trace of ulterior motives in the shinigami who was confidently and easily meeting his gaze, allowing him to discern for himself how freely he could speak with him.

With that in mind, the noble made his decision. It would be interesting to hear how Hisagi thought his eating habits might be related to what he was experiencing now, so long as certain precautions were taken first.

"Nothing I say goes into your newspaper, understood?" he said. "If I answer your questions, any of them, then that information is not to leave your lips unless it is to a Fourth Division healer, and then only because I am unable to speak for myself. If I find out you used anything I say to feed the current gossip, the consequences will be severe."

At least by making his point perfectly clear now, the other couldn't say that he wasn't warned if he decided to let his instincts as a reporter get the better of him later.

"I'll agree to that," Hisagi nodded solemnly. If his theory was correct, gossip was going to be the last thing on anyone's mind.

"And you two?" Byakuya looked at Rin and Mihane. Both jumped at having his forbidding gaze suddenly turned on them, and nodded emphatically.

"I won't say a word, Taichou."

"Me either."

Satisfied that his noble image was at least a little safer for the time being, Byakuya proceeded to answer Hisagi's question.

"I began to experience nausea and heartburn not long after Abarai Fukutaichou departed for his Living World assignment," he explained. "Removing spicy foods from my diet seemed to help the heartburn, and if I kept the bowl of fruit on my desk then I could pick at it whenever I was feeling well enough to eat."

"So if anything, because of this nausea you were eating less than you normally would," Hisagi wanted to clarify.

"Probably," Byakuya confirmed.

"But why raspberries? If the rumors got the type of fruit right, that is."

"They did. And there was no particular reason. I simply craved them. Other foods did not look as appealing, and raspberries could be eaten neatly without risk of making a mess of my paperwork. They also have a tart flavor as opposed to being overly sweet, so they did not offend my palate like most fruits would."

Hisagi smirked. "I thought that might be it."

Byakuya looked at him quizzically and Rin shook his head in frustration. "Okay, that's it! Would somebody _please_ tell me what's going on? All of this is making no sense."

"I would agree," Byakuya glared at Hisagi, storm colored eyes demanding that the fukutaichou finally make the point he said he would.

"It's rather simple, once you pick up on the pattern," Hisagi shrugged, but then he regarded the taichou again with utmost seriousness. "Tell me just one more thing. You don't have to go into elaborate detail, a simple 'yes' or 'no' is fine."

"What?"

"Are you intimately involved with another male?"

Byakuya's eyes widened fractionally and impossibly his shoulders found a way to straighten even more, drawing his upper body up taller than Hisagi thought anyone could accomplish. Though, he was the only one to see it. Rin and Mihane were too busy staring at the fukutaichou with abject horror, unbelieving that he had the audacity to actually ask something so intimate directly to the face of the one of the highest-ranking individuals in the Seiretei.

Said noble's scandalized look only lasted a moment, before shock gave way to outrage. His eyes narrowed and his chin dipped, nostrils flaring as he leveled an insulted glare at the tattooed shinigami. _'How dare he?'_

"I will not answer that," his voice was low, and dripped with the warning of impending danger should his words not be heeded. "My relationship status has no bearing on the present conversation, and I have had enough of your roundabout answers every time I ask you to explain yourself. If you do not give me a straight answer and tell me what you are implying is wrong with me _immediately_, Hisagi Fukutaichou, I will have you written up for improper conduct."

"Fine. I think you're pregnant," Hisagi said simply, sitting back on his heels and folding his arms across his chest, meeting the angry taichou's glare matter-of-factly.

**~*~TBC…~*~**

**A/N****: Yay! Finally someone's come out and said it. I am so completely exhausted. I hope I got everything edited alright. I really wanted to have this updated quicker than last time and this chapter did not want to behave itself and cooperate. Next time- Renji and Unohana have a little chat, we finally get to see what's keeping Soul Society, and Byakuya and Hisagi have it out over Shuuhei's little theory. And of course, there's always the fact that they haven't even discussed the half of it. **

**As always, if you want to see more soon, review please!**

**Many thanks to those who have shared their thoughts with me. Please check your inboxes for my response. **

**Unsigned Review Response****:**

**Irritatedbookworm****: Thank you so much for suggesting Blueowl's page. Her method works. (Whohoo!) Sorry about your email, I hope it comes back up soon. As for your suggestion to fix the problems with Division Five, that'll come up again (next chapter, actually) but your particular suggestion doesn't work for several reasons, though it is well-meaning. **

**The fact is, I would have to go OOC on Soutaichou, throw military protocol out the window, and open up some significant plot holes and contradictions to cannon facts if I tried to use it. I gave it a good amount of thought, and actually wrote my thoughts on this out in far more detail. Since it got to be longer than I'm comfortable tacking on to the end of a chapter, and a bit of a study on my opinion of the relationships between these characters, I'll post it to my profile later in case you or anyone cares to read it. But I like not to deviate from cannon any more than is necessary to make a plot work, and also the Gotei being short-staffed and crippled is how I'm stressing Byakuya out to keep him from getting suspicious about his health, so that he'll write his symptoms off. Otherwise he'd jump the gun on me, find out about his condition too soon, and the plotbunny would have been rendered useless since the whole point was to get him stuck having his child in Hueco Mundo, not having known he was about to be a dad. **

**As for Rikichi, I'm really sad that you think I believe him to be stupid. It's quite the opposite really. The fact is, so far in the fic we've only really seen Rikichi from Byakuya's perspective. If we go to the anime, the first time we see Rikichi is when his infamous troubles controlling Hell Butterflies are being used to create a scene of comic relief. But think about that scene from the view of an officer- if Rikichi has difficulties doing some things that are considered to be commonplace for shinigami, wouldn't that cast doubt in an officer's mind that he'll make an effective up-and-coming seated officer or even fighter in general? Trying to catch the hell butterflies by seducing them with a horoscope and a dummy butterfly also doesn't help one's argument that one is a mature adult, and Squad Six places high value on mature behavior and proper conduct. So, to me it would be OOC of Byakuya not to call Rikichi's suitability to the squad into question. Which works because how else am I going to get an unproven, unseated shinigami on a mission where they specifically said "bring seated officers"? **

**The whole point of bringing him on this mission was stated by Byakuya to be so that Rikichi *could* show him that he really was properly matched with Squad Six, and had the potential Byakuya's looking for. Renji's seen it, but Renji himself was in the same boat once. Remember, he started out in Squad Five, but didn't fit in to what Aizen wanted for a subordinate so he got transferred to Squad Eleven, where his abysmal kidou and attitude weren't a problem, and he excelled to the point of making lieutenant rank.**

**If you've read all four chapters, you'll know that Byakuya's already given Rikichi approval twice so far on this mission- once when he answered his own question about them being left in Hueco Mundo, and again with his reaction during the hollow's attack. So, the kid's actually off to a good start, and I do have more good opportunities planned for him in future chapters.**


	6. Chapter 5

**What to Expect When You're Not Expecting**

**Author****: WhipOfLightHeartOfSword**

**Rating****: M/R**

**World****: Semi-AU, Orihime wasn't captured and the Fake Karakura Town arc didn't happen. The Winter War continues. **

**Pairings****: Renji/Byakuya, Izuru/Shuuhei (more to be announced)**

**Feedback****: Yes please, but no flames.**

**Warnings****: Mpreg, Yaoi, childbirth, medical themes**

**Disclaimer****: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, Shonen Jump, etc., not me. This is a not-for-profit fanwork. **

**(For full warnings/disclaimers please see Chapter 1.)**

**A/N****: ****Whew, done and ready for posting on my birthday itself. Well, it's my b-day here. Back home it's still the 29****th ****at the moment. ^_^ I'm actually embarrassed to say I was so intent on getting this thing to behave and come together I totally forgot what day it was until I looked at the clock, lol.**

**Poor Renji, he gets no love. Actually that's not true. My muse adores him, but she's preoccupied with Byakuya's situation, and the Hueco Mundo group are still proving to be chatty as hell (though I'm not going to complain since it's hard enough coming up with things for people to do when they're stuck in a glorified sandbox with no toys they're allowed to play with *grin*). So, Renji's going to kick off Chapter 6. Actually his scene's going to tie in really well with another one I had planned, so this isn't a bad thing for me as far as writing goes. People wanting to see him in this chap might not agree. Oh, and this chapter's around the same length as the last. Sorry if it intimidated you at first, it just looks longer because of the chapter notes and review response at the end. **

**~*~Chapter 5~*~**

Whatever Byakuya might have thought he'd hear come out of the fukutaichou's mouth, that wasn't it. For a moment, his famed composure failed him, and he found himself unable to do anything but stare uncomprehendingly at the tattooed shinigami who stared patiently back, waiting for him to respond.

"You think I'm _what_?" he demanded in a clipped voice.

"Exactly what I just said. I think you're pregnant," Hisagi replied firmly, though in a gentler voice than he'd used when goaded to be frank.

Byakuya's initial, instinctual response was to protest; to discard and scorn such a ludicrous suggestion. Hisagi must be mistaken. After all, he—Head of the greatest of the Four Noble Clans, taichou of a Gotei 13 Division, unmarried, barely involved with someone, and (most importantly) stranded on a mission in _Hueco Mundo_—could not possibly be…

No. Just… no. It was not possible. For the sake of everything he held dear, and everything he stood for, it could not _be_ possible. And if Hisagi thought he'd just roll over and accept the idea that he could have been put in such a potentially devastating condition, the fukutaichou was going to find out otherwise very swiftly.

Byakuya treated the Ninth Division lieutenant to a cold, furious glare. "That's a rather arrogant statement for someone whom I believe I've already reminded is _not_ a healer."

Hisagi shrugged, trying to look unperturbed, though inwardly he was shaking. He was playing with fire and he knew it. But he also knew better than to ignore his instincts, even if Kazeshini gave him hell for all the times he didn't follow them. They were telling him that the commanding officer and role model of one of his best friends was in very serious trouble, and neither he nor Renji would ever forgive him if he simply let Kuchiki Taichou's pride keep them from facing the truth.

"I never presumed to say I was a healer. Nor have I made any wild conjectures. I believe I can back my claim up with the empirical evidence available to me, and it is for that reason alone that I have presented my conclusion regarding the situation to you. I am not so irresponsible as to throw about wild guesses, and despite editing a newspaper I do not live to create gossip," as he spoke Hisagi made certain to meet the fuming taichou's storm cloud-esque eyes squarely.

Byakuya was giving him a look that he was certain would have struck him dead where he stood, had the Soul King seen fit to make such a thing possible when he created their race. His reiatsu was still tightly leashed, but everyone sitting in that cave could feel it roiling and seething beneath its bindings, seeking freedom to lash out and crush any opposition. Hisagi had to wonder at the terror Renji must have felt, when he and his taichou had crossed swords on the day Rukia was to be executed. If he was feeling monumentally stupid for poking the being controlling that incredible, leashed force with a proverbial stick in a situation where Byakuya _couldn't_ loose it at him, then what kind of balls must his red-headed friend possess to have outright challenged the taichou to an all-out duel?

'_Renji survived. Just remember, Renji survived. Of course he had Hanatarou—no! Don't go there. Renji survived. And he was doing something far worse than you. He was breaking the law and outright attacking his superior officer. This is different. You have a legitimate reason to say what you have, and you have evidence to back up your claim. You're not picking a fight, you're having a discussion. Just don't give up. If all you do is speak rationally, then he can't throw the rulebook at you for being insubordinate. He'll respect that and not dismiss you and order you to silence. It would put him in the wrong and if there's one thing you _do_ know about him, it's that Kuchiki Byakuya is all about following the rules.'_

The noble opened his mouth to give his response, only to have his words cut off as pain lanced through him. He'd been so focused on Hisagi and his outrageous allegation that he'd ignored the building flare until it overwhelmed him. A strangled cry tore from his throat as he doubled over. This time his hips felt as though someone was grabbing them by the points of the bone and pulling them apart. At the same time that infuriating downward pressure he felt turned into a fireball not unlike the feeling he'd suffered when Shinsou had torn through his heart. His back was in misery and the muscles from his sternum almost down to his knees were going to give him the worst case of muscle strain in the history of medicine if they kept tightening and contracting the way they were.

He couldn't even try to count how long it lasted, but when it finally began to fade and he began to pay attention to what was going on around him again, he found that Mihane had wrapped her arms around him, and was trying to hold him up so he wouldn't end up face planting into the sand.

"Taichou… I know it's not an idea you're going to like. No one really does unless they're in a committed relationship and have decided it's something they want at some point in their life. But I can't disagree with Hisagi Fukutaichou," she said, softly.

Byakuya turned his glare on her.

"And just what evidence can you provide to show that it isn't completely insane to say that your commanding officer is pregnant, 9th seat Shirogane, when logic says otherwise?"

"Because of the length of time your behavior's been different, the nature of those behavior changes, and the type of symptoms you're displaying right now," she replied, too intimidated to meet his gaze.

Fury exploded through him. Byakuya had known for months that when the full extent of the effects his war-stress was having on him were brought to light, that he'd be ridiculed for them. It was only natural. People hated the elevated status of nobles, even as they admired them. They would naturally seek at every turn to bring them down, to close the gap between commoner and noble-born, because no sane being rejoiced at hearing that another was better than them, superior. It was a comfort to them to prove that the two classes were not so different, or that if people like them just worked hard enough or were lucky enough, that one day they too might be afforded the same elevated status. For the commoner, it was a positive endeavor.

But to the noble, it was an unjust attack. It was not Byakuya's or any of his relatives' doing that they were born into the social class that they were. And their lives, for all that they looked like paradise to outsiders, were hard. Treachery lurked at every turn, deceit and ulterior motives behind every smile. The nobles lived watching their backs for potential assassins, and those assassins were just as likely to be their own loved ones as hired thugs (who might very well be on the payroll of a loved one). They knew that they were expendable in ways most commoners couldn't even dream of. Their lives were preserved at all costs, so that their freedoms could be callously sacrificed in service to the Soul King; forced to wage silent warfare amongst each other for dominance, so that the King was assured the strongest, smartest, most insightful, cunning and capable as his champions when matters beyond the jurisdiction of the Gotei 13 arose. The Gotei catered to the Three Worlds as a whole, while the nobles acted as the delicate link between them and the Royal Courts. While the rest of the Seiretei could do as they pleased with their lives when they weren't at work, the nobles had to sacrifice everything for the duties they were never given leave of.

They sacrificed the chance of finding love for alliances and status gained through political marriages, the option to choose whether they even wanted to be married at all, the ability to speak and act as they pleased, the choice of what they wanted to devote their lives to, whether they wanted to have kids, the ability to trust and confide anything and everything in friends and family, the opportunities to simply relax and make friends with whomever, to spend time with others without anyone suspecting foul play or scandal—the list went on and on.

Byakuya had been hurt so badly by the pressures and demands that had been levied on him over the years. Forcing him to hide his true nature behind a mask and push people away, censuring him for the wonderful woman he'd married simply because of her origins, reproaching him for honoring a dying loved one's last wish, forcing him to make vows he shouldn't just to make them happy that he'd finally keep up appearances, almost being killed and required to condemn and watch another loved one die as a result of those promises…

And he still continued to sacrifice for them. He hid so much from everyone, kept himself aloof and isolated, followed all their rules no matter how much it emotionally hurt him to do so. He'd hid the love between him and the man who'd begun to put his broken heart and soul back together, pushed himself to physical deterioration and sickness without complaint, and now lowered himself to violate decorum because it was his duty to protect the ones left in his charge, even if to do so he had to wound his pride admitting he couldn't protect them.

And in return for all that, they had the audacity to accuse _to his face_ that he had been so careless while sporting around outside of wedlock that he conceived a bastard child, and then was stupid enough not to notice it? Even if it were possible, did they even realize how absolutely ruinous that could be for him?

Cold fury bloomed into burning rage. Their scandal-seeking minds might think it humorous as hell that a taichou might find himself stuck like a damned damsel in distress in enemy territory, unaware that he was expecting and in need of rescue, but he did not. Nor was he going to put up with such unforgivable disrespect when he had deigned to give them the benefit of the doubt and trust that as comrades trying to survive a perilous situation, he could confide in them!

"How. _DARE. You_,"His reiatsu grew alongside his rage and flared outwards.

The walls around them began to shudder and wisps of sand swirled up from the floor as the pressure in the room rose. Rin squawked and fell over, arms dragging themselves up to cover his head. Mihane gasped and slumped forward, barely keeping herself propped up with her hands. Hisagi fared somewhat better, being fukutaichou level he was able to keep himself upright, but his body felt sluggish as though its weight had increased a thousand-fold, and he struggled to breathe.

"Kuchiki Taichou, stop!" he shouted. Byakuya ignored him, ire churning in his stormy eyes like a dark maelstrom.

Shuuhei shakily forced himself to move forward, thankful for all of the times he'd sparred with Izuru. _'Pretend it's Wabisuke that's hit you,'_ he told himself, bracing as he lifted his hands and grasped the wrathful taichou by the shoulders.

"Kuchiki Taichou, the shields can't take this! You have to stop!"

Byakuya's hands gripped his wrists in a crushing hold, and pulled them away from him. Hisagi fisted his hands and leaned forward, locking them together in a power struggle as he refused to be shoved off. He dared not raise his own reiatsu for fear of putting any more strain on their hideout's shields.

"I am _not_ pregnant!" the noble insisted, refusing to be sidetracked.

At the mouth of the cave, Rikichi had struggled to leave things to those not on guard duty and keep watching for enemies, even though he knew his shift had to be over by now. He'd been startled by the cry of pain he'd heard, his mind at first not wanting to believe it was his captain. Kuchiki Taichou _never_ verbalized pain. Not like that…

He tried. Really, he tried not to turn around. He wanted to follow orders and not bring his taichou's anger down on him. But the words he had heard come out of Hisagi Fukutaichou's mouth right before Kuchiki Taichou had cried out…

_I think you're pregnant._

The young shinigami felt his breath catch. '_Pregnant…_ _Kuchiki Taichou?'_

It would make sense, he supposed. Kuchiki Taichou had been moody and his reiatsu had been spiking, which happened to pregnant people because of the hormones. He stopped ordering spicy foods and always wanted raspberries, didn't that count for food cravings and altered taste? He was always tired, no surprise considering how much effort it took to make a baby—especially a shinigami one. And the weight gain… Kuchiki Taichou never gained weight, but in recent months his stomach in particular had grown, not as an evenly distributed beer-belly, but a curved swelling in the lower abdomen that slowly as it grew outwards also grew upwards. It was still fairly small, not like what he'd seen the few times he'd seen a woman in the later stages of pregnancy in the Rukon. But still…

How could it be possible? Kuchiki Taichou would have to be sleeping with someone, and everyone knew he still mourned the loss of his wife. He'd never shown any interest in anyone, of either gender. Could it be that he'd somehow found a lover?

…Or maybe he hadn't! Rikichi's eyes widened, as the reiatsu in the room gave a huge spike and he was flattened beneath it.

Pitching forwards onto his stomach, he turned to see Kuchiki Taichou and Hisagi Fukutaichou locked in a physical struggle. A crackling sound next to him drew his attention, and he gasped in horror at the cracks beginning to spread in the barriers around their hideout. They were made to hold normal shinigami reiatsu, not an intense internal assault from a taichou-classed individual. If Kuchiki Taichou didn't pull his reiatsu back they would shatter, and Aizen would notice the group hiding here!

Rikichi didn't have time to over-think what he was doing, he just knew he had to get to his captain, had to make him see reason. If Renji was here, he'd stop at nothing to get their taichou calmed down and keep the barriers from breaking, even if it put him in danger doing so. Rikichi would be a poor protégé if he wasn't willing to do the same in the fukutaichou's absence.

Inch by inch, he military-crawled his way over to where Kuchiki Taichou and Hisagi were locked in a standoff. Sweat broke out over his entire body and the air burned in his lungs as he tried to get closer. His body felt like lead, and what energy he had was being swiftly depleted by the strain, but he closed his eyes, grit his teeth and made himself keep going.

It felt like a small eternity passed, before his hand hit something solid, and he opened his eyes to see the taichou and fukutaichou looming over him. Byakuya didn't look directly at him, but he glared down out of the corner of his eye at the foot soldier whose hand had just collided with his leg.

Throwing every bit of protocol out the window, Rikichi lifted his hand and brought it down on his commanding officer's knee, gripping the fabric of his hakama so he could more easily keep it there, even as the reiatsu in the room bore down on him.

"Let go of me, Rikichi. Before you loose that hand," Byakuya warned.

"No! You can threaten me all you like, but I have a duty to help keep us safe just like you do!" Rikichi gasped, fighting to get the words out. "And I can't stay silent while you let your reiatsu loose and put stress fractures in the barriers we put up! You're going to break them and get us noticed by Aizen, Taichou. If something's wrong, so wrong that you would tell us you can't protect us, then what are we supposed to do when he notices a taichou's here and sends his forces? They'll rip us to pieces and take you to Las Noches and torture you! We can't loose another captain, and we were told to lay low. I don't care what Hisagi said. I don't care if it's true or not. I don't care if you've got a secret lover or had a one night stand… I don't care if you haven't had sex since you lost your wife. I just want to see everyone get home safely. I don't want to be found by the arrancar, and I don't want to die. I especially don't want to survive and have to look Renji in the face and tell him I just stood by and did nothing and let you give us away over something stupid like someone's opinion. _Please_ Taichou… we can talk this out, just please don't go against orders and give us away…"

His head dropped to the sand, and he was too exhausted to try and pick it back up. His eyes closed as he focused on just dragging in breath after tortured breath. But he kept his hand exactly where it was, using the last reserves he had to keep hold of the fabric, not giving the noble the chance to forget he was there. He'd survived standing in Renji's way the day that the lieutenant had gone to save Rukia. One of the fundamentals of being in a Gotei unit was standing as a united front whether you liked another person or not. You _never_ attacked members of your own squad, never did them harm for doing as they were supposed to. Surely Kuchiki Taichou would remember that. Surely he would uphold it, as Renji had when he'd merely knocked his fellow squad members out of the way. If he didn't, he wasn't the commander Rikichi thought he was.

Byakuya regarded the young shinigami for a few moments, his face inscrutable, but the pressure in the cave didn't intensify and signal that he'd gotten any angrier.

Hisagi held his breath, waiting to see what would happen.

Rikichi's words rang through the noble's mind, cutting through the rage. _'He's right. I don't know what's come over me.' _Like water rushing out of a broken dam, the fury left him, and the reiatsu levels in the cave abated. Glancing around them, Byakuya could see softly glowing fractures everywhere throughout the barriers. Another few seconds, and they would have disintegrated. This close to Las Noches, a power flare like that would never have gone unnoticed. _'I almost betrayed us all.'_

Numbly, he let go of Hisagi. The other sat back and rubbed his sore wrists. "Damn, that kid can give quite the speech…"

Byakuya could only nod in agreement, as he gazed down at his young subordinate. _'If this is what Renji saw in him…'_ It was small wonder then that the fukutaichou had taken Rikichi under his wing. _'He'll make quite the seated officer one day. I will look forward to seeing what the two of them can accomplish once we return and Renji can take up mentoring him again. To make sure their efforts do not go to waste the next time he is deployed to the Living World, I will make certain there is someone to continue working with Rikichi in Renji's absence. Even if I have to do it myself.'_ After putting Rikichi in such a horrible position, it was the least he could do.

He put his hand over the young recruit's, where it still maintained his death-grip on Byakuya's hakama. Rikichi was on the verge of unconsciousness, and the taichou felt a twinge of guilt. His own subordinate should not have to risk his wellbeing like that around him. The youth was right. Hisagi had only given him an opinion, and whether the noble agreed with it or not did not justify getting so angry that he almost cost them the frail safety they clung to in this hostile world.

"Let's make him comfortable so he can recover, and reinforce the shields. Then we can resume this discussion. Calmly," Byakuya said.

"Sure."

Gently Byakuya pried Rikichi's hand off his hakama. Mihane and Hisagi, the former still shaking a bit, picked Rikichi up and laid him out a few feet away, wrapped in his cloak with sand piled under his hood as a pseudo pillow. Rin just sat up and stayed where he was, trying to regain his breath.

Byakuya climbed unsteadily to his feet, the output of such a huge amount of reiatsu combined with his long-standing fatigue and having gone without food for almost two days severely depleting his reserves. Determined to undo the damage he'd done, he locked his knees and began repairing the existing shields and layering new ones that could take the added punishment in case Kami forbid he lost control again. He also risked using a bit more of his reserves to place a sound-muffling barrier. It was tricky to set up and more solid than the other ones. It couldn't be walked through and would have to be taken down and replaced every time someone wanted to leave the cave, which was impractical when they were trying to conserve their energies. Before it was easier for them to simply keep their voices down but for now it would save them the worry of being overheard by a being that came near the cave, so they could speak without having to worry about not having a guard posted.

Byakuya still refused to believe he was… he couldn't say the word, not even inside his own head. But he was willing to hear the arguments of his companions, and it was better to do this all at once than try to ask any one of them to apply their attention to the outside. In light of everything he couldn't imagine they wouldn't just be distracted anyway.

He had just finished when the next flare-up hit and he cried out as his knees gave way beneath him.

Strong arms wrapped around him and kept him from hitting the sand. "It's okay, Kuchiki Taichou. I've got you," Hisagi said.

He held Byakuya up until the pain passed and the noble could stand on his own again, and then they returned to where they had been sitting before. Once everyone was settled down again, Hisagi cleared his throat. "So… where do we want to start?"

He figured that after barely avoiding one disaster triggered by unwittingly riling the taichou, it was better to let him take the lead and decide where and how the conversation was going to resume.

Byakuya sat quietly for a moment, unsure of where to begin. He decided to simply get right down to it. "I can not be pregnant."

"Why, if I might ask?" Hisagi replied. "It's obvious we're both convinced we're right about this. I'll admit that earlier I should have made my arguments clearer, and I apologize for just assuming others would interpret things the same way I did. So why don't we all simply lay out our reasons for believing what we do, and take it from there?" 

Byakuya gave him a measuring look, as though he wasn't certain he could trust him.

Shuuhei sighed. "I swear to you that the promise I made before not to repeat anything you say, except under the circumstances you stated, still stands."

The noble nodded. It would have to do. He would have to set his own misgivings aside and simply take the other for his word. They couldn't afford to keep verbally dancing around each other; it would just lead to more misunderstandings and needless fighting. And whatever was causing him to be so emotionally sensitive, even he didn't want to risk setting off his temper again. They only had so much energy on reserve from going without food. They couldn't afford to waste any more except in the event they were attacked again.

"I've already established my reasons for my opinion, even if I did it badly. So why don't you give us yours? Tell us why you believe you can't be pregnant," Hisagi requested again.

Byakuya breathed deeply, and reminded himself that they didn't know he was involved with Renji, and that he didn't have to go into any more details than were necessary to establish his argument. He had their word they wouldn't gossip, but he still preferred to be a bit vague despite the conclusions they might draw. Better to risk having to endure comments regarding the promiscuity of nobles, than have a slip of the tongue cause his clan and Soutaichou to find out about his burgeoning relationship with his common-born lieutenant before they were ready to be open about it.

"There are several reasons, the two biggest ones having to do with simple timing. After the death of my wife I was celibate for fifty years. I did break that celibacy last summer, but because of the demands of the war, the last time I was intimate was seven months ago. The second reason is the length of time I was sexually active. Male couples that seek children usually require months of preparations and the extensive aid of a healer in order for the necessary elements to come together so they can conceive. I'm certain you've been to the Fourth's required seminar on sexual health and contraceptive options. If so you'll remember that the chances of a male shinigami conceiving by accident are 5% per month. As there was only a three month window between the time I broke my celibacy and subsequently resumed it, the cumulative probability I could have conceived is only 15%."

"But for those three months you weren't on birth control," Hisagi sought to clarify.

"No. I had intended to make an appointment with Unohana Taichou, but things changed and I saw no point in starting a birth control regiment if there was no current need for it."

Having never had a male partner before, Byakuya had never had a reason to be on birth control. Renji'd been on it once, years ago, but didn't like it and as he had a preference for being seme avoided taking it unless he was in a relationship with someone he was willing to spread his legs for. They'd briefly discussed the necessity of contraceptive treatments when it began to look like their relationship was going to be a long term one. It was the day after it had first been brought up in conversation that Soutaichou's orders for Renji to report for duty in the Living World had come.

Hisagi chewed his lip thoughtfully. "Here's the way I see it—and just to be clear I'm not judging you on your sexual habits, I'm just stating cold biological facts. Just because there was only a 15% chance doesn't mean there wasn't still a chance. I remember proofreading an article a couple of years ago for one of the Fourth Division healers that the SWA requested as a handout for one of their women's health meetings. It said that the actual chances of a sexually active woman getting pregnant without trying was only 11%.(1) I believe Ise Fukutaichou freaked out considerably when she read that. Because who wants to be that lucky person who wasn't careful and landed in that 11th percentage? I know a lot of male shinigami forgo birth control because their chances are less than half of that, but it could still happen. Even with birth control there's still a tiny chance. So unless you took a pregnancy test and it came up negative, I wouldn't dismiss it."

Byakuya could agree with that logic, even if he didn't like the implications that came with it.

"I remember that article," Mihane murmured. When she noticed she had drawn the attention of both taichou and fukutaichou, she blushed. "I remember reading that even a healthy couple using an ovulation calendar only has a 25% chance per month of conceiving. Ise Fukutaichou was so angry and gave us this whole lecture that we were not to become careless because 11% still wasn't zero. Matsumotou Fukutaichou got offended because she kept looking at her. I don't think they were on speaking terms for a month."

"You said earlier that you agreed with Hisagi Fukutaichou, because of the length of time my behavior was different and the symptoms I was experiencing now," Byakuya reminded her, curious to know in greater detail what she'd meant by that.

Mihane stared down at her hands, where they were folded on top of her knees. "Yes, I did. I'm not a pregnancy expert. You know I don't have kids and neither do any of my friends. But the SWA does make an effort to make sure we're not unaware of the basics. Symptoms don't start right away; they take a few weeks to show up. It's around the second month that people start to notice something's different. There's no rule that says food cravings _have_ to be wild and wacky combinations that will ruin your friends' appetites. My dad told me once that when my mom was pregnant her biggest craving was plain old broccoli. You yourself actually used the word 'craved' when Hisagi Fukutaichou asked about the raspberries. Uncharacteristic moodiness could be attributed to hormones, and unlike normal people shinigami suffer from reiatsu spikes and crashes in addition to mood swings. Your nausea could have actually been mild morning sickness. It doesn't have to happen in the morning, people can get it at any time. Some get it really bad and some _really _lucky people don't get it at all."

"And what about the symptoms I have now?" Byakuya didn't like that she seemed to get more nervous with every word, as if she expected that he might get angry and suffer another reiatsu spike at any second. What was she so afraid of saying out loud?

"It sounded like you were talking about labor pains. And don't male shinigami develop a birth canal that opens up during the first stages of labor?" she whispered.

Her words made the noble feel a chill as though he'd been hit with Hitsugaya's shikai. He hoped fervently she wasn't going to say what he thought she might have concluded. It would be so much easier to convince himself it also wasn't a possibility if someone else didn't say it.

"The rumors started in November, around seven-something months ago," Mihane continued, finally raising her head and looking him in the eye. She looked frightened, and her voice wavered. "Until you described the symptoms you've had since we've been on this mission I didn't think anything of it, because those things _could _be caused by stress and everyone in the squad believes you don't sleep around and that you aren't seeing anyone. But just now you said that you _did_ start having sex again. You said it's been seven months since the last time, and that there was a three month window. Kuchiki Taichou… if pregnancy symptoms start during the second month, and you were having sex without birth control starting ten months ago… then according to the timing and the symptoms, we might not be dealing with just pregnancy… right now, you could be in labor!"

Byakuya felt sick, as though his stomach was about to drop off the edge of a cliff. But before he could say anything, Rin decided to cast his own opinion into the mix.

"You know, if that's true—that you're pregnant, I mean—then that would mean that my survey module _wasn't_ broken. Your reiatsu is taichou class, so unless someone were specifically excluding it from a scan, it could totally mask a baby's. I mean, even if the kid winds up having huge potential it still won't compare to the amount of power you have as a fully trained adult, while it's still in the womb. It would explain why I could record two different heart rates occupying the same space, but not be able to get any other fix on a sixth shinigami in the area."

This wasn't happening. Looking from one face to the next, Byakuya wanted to protest, wanted to deny any chance that they could be right. He had been willing to listen, had listened, and they had presented _very_ compelling evidence. Compelling enough that without taking an actual pregnancy test, he'd be hard-pressed to deny said evidence. Especially Rin's, considering he had the readouts to prove that he actually had recorded two individual heart rates in a space occupied by only one body. But the noble could take comfort though, in the fact that even though he couldn't prove they were _wrong_, without a positive result on a pregnancy test they also wouldn't be able to prove they were _right_.

"Your evidence is well thought out, but it is still only speculation. With Rin's survey module destroyed he can not run additional scans, and pregnancy tests aren't on the requirements list for day missions, so we don't have any means with which to prove or disprove your theory."

"Unless you are in labor, at which point the kid's eventually going to make damned sure you do know it's there," Hisagi pointed out. Byakuya gave him a withering, unappreciative _Look_.

The fukutaichou huffed, and ran a hand through his hair, scratching self-consciously at the back of his head. "Look… I wasn't going to mention this, because no one knows and I'd really rather it stayed that way, but if you _are_ pregnant this situation just got a lot more serious because it's not just your life on the line if something happens, and if you're in labor then we're in really deep shit…"

Byakuya, Rin and Mihane watched curiously as Hisagi pulled his zanpakutou out of his obi, and pressed his finger into the butt end of the sheath. The bottom slid inwards a tad, and then back out. On both of the narrow ends of the oval was a niche which had a slim, tubular object fitted into it. Hisagi pulled one of them out, and pushed the hidden compartment back into place.(2)

He held out the tube to Byakuya. "If I ever gossip about you, you now have ammunition to use back at me, so I'd rather we just say we won't tell each other's secrets and leave it at that."

"You keep pregnancy tests hidden in your zanpakutou?" Byakuya was incredulous, even as he took the proffered test and examined it. He'd never held one, only seen them at a distance. Every shinigami was required to attend seminars periodically on sexual health—twice a decade for unseated individuals and once a decade for seated officers, taichou, and fukutaichou, while Academy students had them once a year. But he'd always considered it outside of his comfort zone to actually handle any of the samples that were passed around. As a noble he had to keep up certain appearances, and people tended to take such visual images as opportunities to make rude speculations or inquiries. Kami forbid what might happen if the SWA managed to get a picture of him holding a pregnancy test.

"Yea, well… it's both complicated and not complicated," Hisagi flushed, cheeks darkening in embarrassment and making the blue tattoo under his left eye look faintly purplish. "I'm in a relationship, and I want to enjoy my partner… it's just that birth control and I don't seem to get along well. I've suffered some bad side effects, so my choices are either to stop having sex altogether or just hope for the best since my boyfriend doesn't like being uke all the time. Unohana's researching alternative options, but in the meantime she's gone and made a conception calendar for me so I know when the best times to keep my legs shut and take the role of seme are. But just to be on the safe side I test myself every other month. I asked my boyfriend to double check the calendar once for me and he misread it. Of course he calls me frantically while I'm on a mission two weeks later to tell me this, and I had to wait an extra week before I could get home and get tested. The whole time I literally worried myself sick and freaked out even more thinking that I _had_ gotten knocked up. I hadn't, but thinking I did and worrying about what might happen because of it were horrible. His family would have freaked, and either forced us to break up or me to abort… or they might have made us get married, which neither of us are ready for. So I altered Kazeshini's sheath and I always keep two tests in there for emergencies, so no matter where I am I don't have to wonder."

"Based on how you believe 'his family' might have reacted, am I safe to assume that this boyfriend of yours is Kira Izuru?" Byakuya asked.

Hisagi nodded. "We've been together almost two years now."

Byakuya wasn't surprised. Kira and Hisagi were constantly together, and enjoyed a very close friendship. It would not be unreasonable to think that their feelings might develop beyond that. It also gave the taichou a strange bit of comfort. Kira came from a low-ranking, but still noble family. If they were seeing each other for so long, then Hisagi wouldn't be able to stay unaware of the dangers inherent if a noble conceived, or their partner did, out of wedlock. That saved him some explaining if… well, it would make the fukutaichou more sensitive to his situation.

Another flare-up (he refused to think it might be a contraction) made him drop the pregnancy test and wrap his arms around his stomach as he leaned forward and gasped softly in pain. He tried to ignore the solemn, pitying looks he was getting from the shinigami around him. He was vaguely aware of Hisagi picking up the test.

A second moan alerted them that Rikichi was starting to come around.

As the pain faded, the noble began to push himself up. A hand suddenly appeared in front of his face and he looked up to see Hisagi silently offering him aid. Byakuya swiftly debated over it and decided that considering how unsteady he felt, it was better to accept help getting up than try it on his own and fall over. He gripped the fukutaichou's wrist and allowed Hisagi to pull him to his feet.

"I'll go with Kuchiki Taichou and keep an eye out for hollows while he takes the test, you two take care of Rikichi. That is, if that's alright with you, Taichou."

"It's fine," Byakuya wasn't going to argue. Regardless of what his ailment turned out to be, with these pains he could not risk being outside and vulnerable without someone to protect him.

He took down the soundproof barrier and Hisagi cautiously stepped out and looked around to make sure nothing had snuck close while they hadn't been paying attention.

"Looks like the coast is clear. Let's get this done quick."

Byakuya agreed.

Instead of climbing the incline again, they skirted around the back of the jutting rock face that made up the exterior of the cave. Hisagi handed the test back to Byakuya and politely turned away. The noble untied his wet hakama and allowed them to drop to the sand. Untying the fundoushi came with an unpleasant surprise, as it came away from between his legs with a large, mucousy glob of blood stuck to it.(3) Grimacing, he held it at arm's length and dropped it into the sand, having no intention of putting it back on. He tried not to think of what such a thing might mean in terms of what was happening to him.

Removing the cap from the absorbent end of the test, he held it out and carefully aimed himself at it. His bladder had almost nothing in it, but it was definitely enough to get the strip wet, and that was all he really needed to do, right? He put the test down just long enough to replace his hakama, before scooping it back up again, though he refused to look at it.

"How long does it take to give an answer?"

"That one takes two minutes. It's specially made for shinigami. It not only looks for traces of hormones in your system, it also registers the presence of foreign reiryoku," Hisagi replied.

As Byakuya stood staring out at the sands and literally counting down the seconds, thoughts whirled around his mind. What the fallout would be if he was pregnant, what could be going on with him if he wasn't. Was he in labor because he had managed to trick himself into not noticing until he was full term, or was something wrong and making him give birth prematurely? What would Renji say? Their relationship was so new; would he still want it if there was a child involved?

Then there was his family to consider. The Kuchiki Elders would be furious. He wanted to doubt the likelihood they'd disown him, but over the years he'd been quite the troublemaker in their eyes so they might just consider this the last straw. Even if they didn't cast him out they could still refuse to accept the child as his heir, and forcibly take it away from him and adopt it out before marrying him off to make heirs with proper bloodlines rather than risk a repeat incident. They could demand that he and Renji got married, but Byakuya was loath to assume the vibrant red-head would simply waltz happily into their domain of rules and regulations even stricter than those of the Gotei 13. Renji would put up a spectacular fight, of that he was sure. But just like Byakuya before him, eventually Renji would loose, and Byakuya loved him too much to want to see him broken like that. If they ever joined in that way, he wanted it to be because they had come to mean so much to each other that neither could ever walk away, and damn everything else. It made him sick to think of Renji trying to shoulder the unwanted burden of being a member of a noble house, and coming to hate Byakuya for trapping him in it because he was careless and didn't get on birth control fast enough.

And on top of all that there was the hell he'd get when Soutaichou fond out he'd been intimate with his subordinate…

"Kuchiki Taichou, what's it say?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. _'Think positi—no! Negative. Think positive thoughts that the test is negative.'_

The most positive thought he could come up with was that Hisagi and the others were wrong, plain and simple, and that this test would prove it. Once that was put to rest they could either try to come up with another potential diagnosis, or he could order them to simply keep watch over him as he tried to get some rest and hoped that his symptoms didn't get any worse than they already were. He just had to look down and confirm it.

The taichou opened his eyes to do exactly that—and found that he couldn't. He stayed frozen, eyes glued to the white sands beneath the moonlit sky.

There was something unnerving about this situation that made Byakuya hearken back to the day Rukia was to have been executed. The day he had sworn a ryoka could not achieve ban kai, or defeat a noble taichou like him in battle. That day he'd learned that some things tradition and precedent insisted were impossible, in the right circumstances might very well become reality.

Cold anger built in his chest, masking an even colder fear. Fear of the consequences that could result were this to turn out to be a situation like the one he'd found himself in that day on Soukyoku Hill. Consequences that could be far more devastating than being beaten by a ryoka, duped into allowing the attempted execution of his sister, and hospitalized after being impaled on a traitor's zanpakutou.

Byakuya forced another deep breath into his lungs, internally clawing his composure back to him. No matter what, he was not going to give in to fear without a fight. He could not allow himself to loose sight of the fact that Hisagi—and the others as well—had only done exactly as asked and given him their _opinion_. The noble did not have to accept that opinion. He would not accept it, not without proof that went well beyond a shadow of a doubt that there were no other possible answers. If he just looked down, he'd have that required proof and they could figure out their next course of action based on it.

But would it be the proof that he wanted? Would it prove what he wanted it to prove?

'_It doesn't matter. The truth is merely the truth, it has no relevance to people's wants. You would be a fool to deny yourself the opportunity to get an answer, even if it means you stand to loose everything.'_

"Kuchiki Taichou, If you wait too long to check it the reading's no good. You've got about one minute before that test expires and we have to do it again. Remember, I've only got one more."

Hisagi was right; he couldn't debate over this any longer. Stormy grey eyes turned down with agonizing slowness, his heart pounding, and it felt like there was a lead weight just below his sternum as his hand held the test in front of him with a steadiness that for some reason irritated him. It didn't seem right that he could continue to maintain his outward calm, when inwardly he was shaking like a leaf.

_:It's okay, Byakuya. I'm with you. No matter what, I'm with you.:_

Senbonzakura. The noble didn't know when the zanpakutou spirit had woken and begun listening in on what was going on around them, he'd been too preoccupied. But the voice of his beloved counterpart was a welcome one. The warm caring and loyalty in that voice strengthened his resolve more than he'd realized he'd needed it, and he finally looked at the tiny screen on the test.

"Hisagi… a blue plus sign means…?"

Shuuhei sighed. "It means that we're in deep shit, not that we weren't anyway. You're pregnant."

He didn't need to add that with that being the case, then the noble's most recent symptoms also meant he was indeed in labor.

Byakuya closed his eyes, a lone tear tracking silently down his cheek. He hadn't cried since the day Hisana had died, but now he didn't think he could stop from doing so if he tried.

_:Oh, Byakuya…:_

He didn't notice his companion had approached him until a thumb swiped across his cheek, removing some of the moisture. His eyes snapped open and he stared at Hisagi in shock, unused to people randomly touching him. "What…?"

"You're not alone. I swear to you, no matter what you're not alone. You've got two subordinates in that cave who care a lot about you, Rin's a bit immature but he's a good kid, and I would _never_ leave someone to face something like this by themselves. I know all too well what it was like just facing the _possibility _alone. Renji's one of my best friends, and you're not just his taichou, you're his idol. In his absence, hell even if he wasn't absent, I'll stand by you. I promise."

Maybe it was the enormity of the situation. Maybe it was the uncertainty of how horrible the consequences would be. Maybe it was the fear of knowing he was trapped in hostile territory and in labor with no healer to help him. Maybe the reassuring feeling Senbonzakura was trying to project at him was messing with his hormones. Maybe it was just a hormonal reaction to the supportive words that echoed those of his zanpakutou. Maybe it was because of the horrible pain that chose at that moment to lance through him yet again.

'A contraction,' his mind supplied, absently. _'It's a contraction.'_

Maybe it was a combination of all of those. Whatever it was, the noble gave a heartbroken cry as his knees gave way and he fell. Hisagi wrapped his arms around him and eased both of them to the ground, uncaring that they weren't safe out there. The fukutaichou simply held him close, allowing Byakuya to rest his head on his chest despite the pointy edges of the kenseikan. Shuuhei gently stroked his hair and tried to soothe him as he sobbed.

_:Kazeshini…?:_

_:Worry about him. I'll keep watch.:_

_:Thank you.:_

With the reassurance that his zanpakutou would alert them to danger, Hisagi shifted so he could sit more comfortably and wait for Byakuya to calm down. Once he did, they could make whatever decisions they had to about what they were going to do next, even though Shuuhei didn't believe there was all that much they could do except to support the taichou as best they could and pray that they didn't loose him or the baby in the hellish hours that were to come. Even better would be if somehow, someway, the Seiretei restored inter-world travel and communications so they could get some kind of help before it was too late.

But whatever happened, as he sat there in the sand holding the shaking figure of the proud man that so many looked up to, feeling the hot tears soaking into his shihakushou, Shuuhei couldn't help but picture the face of the tough, tattooed red-head who'd fussed and worried and obsessed so much over Kuchiki Byakuya that he'd almost gotten himself killed for it. And as he did he made his vow anew.

'_I won't let you down, Renji. I promise I won't fail you. I'll protect him since you can't. You'll still have someone to look up to and inspire you to become stronger, if I have anything to say about it. You won't have to shoulder the burden of being without your taichou as I have. I swear it…'_

**~*~TBC…~*~**

**A/N****: Aww, Hisagi's being cute. I'm really thrilled to hear that so many people are excited to see him in this fic. Makes me happy, because I really enjoy having him here, even if I do have to struggle a little to keep him from stealing the show from Renji, lol. But as I said, Renji'll be here to start off the next chapter. Oh, and the formatting of putting colons around communications between shinigami and zanpakutou was inspired by the Mindspeech in Mercedes Lackey's ****Heralds of Valdemar**** series. I love the look of it so I decided to borrow it. Anyways, lots going on next chapter- Renji's back to talk to Unohana, she wants to speak with him, we finally find out **_**why**_** the Senkaimon's still sealed, and get the full details on shinigami biology and how Byakuya's little bun in the oven is possible. (I know many of you were waiting and wondering.) Plus our Hueco Mundo team braces for the coming birth, and Izuru will finally join the chaos since TDM decided he and Shuuhei were not allowed to not be an item. *grin***

**For those of you eager for updates, I now have a livejournal page on which I will be posting progress notes every couple of days to ease your suspense. I know most people are too lazy to want to have to remember to check **_**another**_** page, so I'll leave a note next to the link on my profile so you'll know when the latest entry's been posted, and what it was about. Then you can choose to read or not read if you want to know more. **

**In addition, I'm starting to accumulate multiple different directions I can take certain parts of this fic in. I'm curious to see where the readers think it will go, so I'm going to write out the most likely ones and make one or two polls on my profile. It's not a voting contest to choose the outcome of the story, so the popular opinion might not necessarily be what happens. Like I said, I'm just curious to see where the thoughts of everyone who doesn't have my muse whispering in their ear are going, lol. **

**Chapter Notes****: **

**1. When trying to figure out what a reasonable probability would be for male shinigami get knocked up, I figured it would be helpful to know what the comparative likelihood was for women, since they're supposed to have a much easier time of it. Boy was I surprised to find out just how small that percentage really is! Guess I can't blame people for not mentioning it. Better not to risk people thinking they can let their guard down. **

**2. Teehee, a delightful little suggestion from ichibanseiken. She suggested Hisagi have a hidden compartment in his zanpakutou like Ikkaku, but that he would use it to store pregnancy tests instead of healing ointment. That Damn Muse was intrigued, and we set about seeing how this might work. The biggest question of course was- WHY? Well, we worked it out, and my notes regarding the situation and the relationship between Shuuhei and Izuru will be posted on my Livejournal. So yay! Fun twist. Thanks again for the suggestion! Hmm… wondering where else this could possibly go…**

**3. Ah, the newest labor symptom that Byakuya wouldn't have a clue about. This is called the 'bloody show'. It's a mucus plug that blocks anything from getting past the cervix and into the uterus. When the cervix effaces as the body's getting ready for labor it falls out. This can happen anywhere from days to hours before a baby's born, and some people never notice it because it falls out into the toilet to be flushed away. **

**Unsigned Review Responses****: **

**Random anonymous reviewer****- **Well, Byakuya did say (not in so many words) 'spit it out already!' Lol. As for Hisagi's assumption, don't worry, I'm not upset or anything that people would go WTF over the whole situation as it stands. If there's one thing that must be included in every mpreg fic, it's an explanation as to how this little medical anomaly/miracle is possible. In writing there's three ways to convey information: let the characters tell you with their thoughts or dialogue, be the omnipotent narrator that cuts in and supplies extra knowledge whenever a question about something comes up, or let it incorporate itself into the story and the readers will encounter it as the characters do. In this case I decided to go with a combination of options 1 and 3. Unlike the readers, the characters are already in the know and finally in this chapter got around to mentioning that knowledge in conversation. In the next chapter I'm going to allow the encounter between Renji and Unohana to give us the finer details. So don't worry, I'm not going to leave everyone wondering much longer. And yea, I will admit I felt a little guilty. Poor Byakuya, even though it's necessary and just the story moving along… I still felt bad. Tehee, as for Rikichi and everyone else finding out about Byakuya and Renji being together… I haz planz. I already have a rough draft written and it's cute. Well, I think it's cute. We'll see what everyone else thinks when we get to that point.

**Irritatedbookworm****- **The whole operating system? Ouch! And having Rikichi suggest an idea like that just to get Byakuya to… hmmm… now _that_ makes more sense and knowing the reasoning behind it… I like it. And yea, I think 'misinterpret' is accurate. ROTFL, you comparing him to a puppy reminded me of Zack Fair from FF7. (Loves him. ^_^) Lol, just as SOLDIER has Zack, the Sixth has Rikichi. And yes he's totally puppy-ish. I tried to give everyone a taste of him and his innocent naïveté in this chapter, hopefully I'll manage to keep the balance between him and Byakuya's taichou thought process as things go along. I haven't read Honor Among Enemies, but I agree with your thinking that Rikichi needs bringing along and isn't going to understand everything the higher-ups think and do for a while. And I'm glad that Byakuya's labor pains (and lack of ability to describe them) are coming across as something people can sympathize with. I took inspiration from the frustration of suffering really bad menstrual cramps back in high school, and trying to convey what was wrong to people who decided that simply saying it's 'that time of the month' wasn't enough, lol. And as for the 'kids' comment… ack, not what I meant, but re-reading it I face-palmed because the way I wrote it _did_ make it sound that way. This is what I failed to say- In my head, these characters are all around that age where some of them are going to start to pair off and begin families in the not-too-distant future. So it's unlikely that Renji's going to be the last of Shuuhei's friends to have children, though he will be the first. For now though… it's just going to be the one. It's a huge stretch to keep Byakuya from figuring out he's pregnant with just one baby. As has been said (and will be brought up again) he's gained weight, but it's more like the weight gain you'd see in someone around 23 weeks along, or in their sixth month. In women it can either be starting to look like a baby belly, or leave you wondering if you should say something or not because there's just that little bit of room for doubt. On a guy like Byakuya, with people's perception that he's celibate they'd assume he just needs to get to the gym. I can't see being able to hide more than one full-term baby in a belly that size, and if he got any bigger—since natural mpreg's possible in this universe—there would be people speculating and Soutaichou would have him called down to the Fourth and my fun would be over. *tear* But that's not much comfort knowing that by the end Byakuya will have ample cause to want to 'chire' me anyway… (And thanks, the migraine fortunately only lasted a few hours for once. ^_^)

**Love This****- **That's awesome that you think everything's well balanced, thank you. Coming up with ideas for people stuck in a very boring situation isn't easy, but I love a challenge. And I'm a stickler for good grammar. Not only does it make a story easier to follow and enjoy, it helps bring out the beauty in written language. Happy reading!

**Katz****- **^_^ Problem's revealed but the drama's only just beginning. Hope the wait wasn't too horrible.

**Thank you to everyone who's sent me their thoughts. You all know the drill- review if you want another chapter soon! **


	7. Chapter 6

**What to Expect When You're Not Expecting**

**Author****: WhipOfLightHeartOfSword**

**Rating****: M/R**

**World****: Semi-AU, Orihime wasn't captured and the Fake Karakura Town arc didn't happen. The Winter War continues. **

**Pairings****: Renji/Byakuya, Izuru/Shuuhei (more to be announced)**

**Feedback****: Yes please, but no flames.**

**Warnings****: Mpreg, Yaoi, childbirth, medical themes**

**Disclaimer****: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, Shonen Jump, etc., not me. This is a not-for-profit fanwork. **

**(For full warnings/disclaimers please see Chapter 1.)**

**A/N****: Sorry guys, this author's note is going to be a little longer than usual. After a week of brainstorming and ruthlessly hammering out the fine details… I finally give you the chapter where we at last find out the full details of how the existence of Byakuya's little munchkin is possible, and we get to catch up with the goings-on in the Seiretei! Despite the length (I swear I tried to keep it shorter, but these guys just don't **_**shut up**_**) we will not be seeing our stranded Hueco Mundo heroes this chapter. Renji decided that after being ignored for the last two updates, it was his turn for some spotlight. And Izuru got jealous that I was giving Shuuhei so much attention, so he and the redhead both ganged up on this poor little author, and hijacked this chapter for their very own, lol. Personally, I think it's a nice little interlude. The last few chapters have been quite dramatic, and the drama's not over yet, so we might as well check in with those poor, blissfully unaware folks who have no idea how crazy things are about to get. **

**As for the explanation of how males are able to conceive**** in my little universe… herein lies the reason I listed 'medical themes' in my warnings. My muse is meticulous, and once upon a time way back in the day, I briefly entertained thoughts of entering the field of veterinary medicine. I learned that I didn't like it enough to make it my career, but I still find the field of medicine in general to be an absolutely fascinating one. As such the 'blame it on the reiatsu' excuse just wasn't cutting it for me. I believe I said it best on my Livejournal post earlier today: ****I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not getting too technical, but... this is what happens when we let my muse at the anatomical diagrams. :P**

In some part of my mind I have to wonder if this was how Mary Shelley felt when writing **Frankenstein**** and trying to explain how a scientist could cut-and-sew a body together from various corpses (or whatever he did, it's been too long since I last read the novel) zap it with a bolt of lightning... and viola!**

Or, since **Frankenstein****'s a more philosophical piece despite everyone remembering it for it's mad science, perhaps what I do is more akin to the kind of medical and scientific BS that Michael Crichton had to pull in ****Jurassic Park****, explaining how they managed to get dino-DNA (even though you can't in real life, even in fragmented form) and then providing an excuse that a population initially made up of only females could begin breeding, thus breaking free of artificial restraints and regaining natural autonomy. ("Life will find a way", anyone? ^_^)**

Well, for all the hard work I've put in to coming up with a (fictionally) plausible way for this 'miracle of life' to happen, I'm starting to think that it will be used in all of my Bleach fics from now on. At least, all of the ones that contain mpreg. Because I really think I'd go nuts if I had to come up with a new way of this being possible for *every* mpreg I wrote in the fandom. Writing this chapter, I felt like Gene Wilder when he so eloquently quoted in **Young Frankenstein****-**

"It... _**could**_**... WORK! (^_^ *grin*)**

**~*~Chapter 6~*~**

Renji glared fiercely down the street in front of him as he made his way towards the Shinigami Academy, its close proximity to the central senkaimon bringing him within visual range of the remnants of yesterday's battlefield. People assigned to the cleanup crews made sure to skirt around him and give him a wide berth as they went about their duties. No one wanted to accidentally set off the temper of a fukutaichou who already looked like he was just waiting for an excuse to let off some steam.

In truth he didn't give a damn about them, and he wasn't actually so angry that he'd fly off the handle unless someone really went out of their way to make him. But they wouldn't be able to tell that, and he wasn't complaining. With how worried and restless he felt, it was just as well they left him alone.

Twenty-seven hours. It had been more than twenty-seven hours since the senkaimon had been shut down, and Renji's lover and squad mates had been trapped in enemy territory.

Of course he was fully aware that Kuchiki Byakuya was perfectly capable of keeping himself alive and hidden, but that didn't stop Renji from worrying anyway. Sometime over the past year, even though they'd spent a good portion of that year apart, the stuffy noble that he once would have given anything to pound into the dirt had instead become the single most precious thing in his life. Well, most precious _person_. Zabimaru held the title of most precious _thing_, despite the zanpakutou's incredible capacity to drive him up a wall.

Either way, Renji had gone to bed the previous night worried, irritable, and desperately wishing that he could contact Byakuya. Even if they couldn't bring his taichou home yet, simply talking to him and hearing it confirmed by him that he and the others were okay would have done a world of good to ease the fukutaichou's mind.

He raised his arms, leaned back, and stretched, both hearing and feeling vertebrae pop and sore muscles protest. The battle the previous day had lasted a good four hours before they'd _finally_ gotten every damned arrancar killed. The great thing about the seals placed on the Seiretei was that when the senkaimon got shut down the way it had, even garganta became notoriously difficult to open. The arrancar had been too overwhelmed to take the time to break through the Seiretei's shielding, so none managed to escape back to Aizen except for those that were left in the Dongai when the gates had slammed shut in their faces.

Even better was the fact that by the end, the Secret Mobile Corps had succeeded in tracking down the traitor who had let them in in the first place.

He was some Fifth Squad lower seat who had gotten it into his head that "Lord Aizen" had the right idea, and he was going to use his continued place inside the Seiretei to act in the capacity of spy and saboteur.

'_Psh, not anymore…'_

With Central 46 still under reconstruction and Soul Society officially at war, the Seiretei was being operated for the time being under martial law. The traitor was being given no quarter. Squad Two had free rein to extract any and all information by whatever means necessary. Once they were certain they'd gotten everything out of him they could—future plans, accomplices, etc.—he'd just be killed outright. No trial, no fancy sentencing. Just death and a shallow, anonymous grave somewhere.

'_Not that there'll probably be much left to bury, once they get through with him.'_

It wasn't the traitor he felt bad for—far from it when he considered that because of that bastard his taichou was trapped on Aizen's turf with no way to call for help while his loved ones had to sit by not knowing if he was still okay or not.

No, the ones he felt sorry for were the rest of the members of Squad Five. That squad had been looked askance at by every person in the Seiretei over the last year; everyone constantly wanting to know if it was just Aizen who was the traitor, or if all of the men he commanded were really rabid dogs—ticking time bombs that would eventually turn on whoever happened to be unlucky enough to be around them.

Momo's mental instability and brain washing was damning enough. This was just going to make things even worse for the squad members Aizen had left behind. They were constantly watched and not allowed to participate on missions in _any_ capacity, just allowed to train and sit in a holding pattern that never ended. They could neither redeem their honor nor defect en masse to their treacherous ex-taichou's side. They couldn't even get permission to transfer to other squads and start over again until all this shit was sorted out. Even then, they'd find that option easier said than done, as it would come with a whole slew of new crap they'd be faced with, trying to adjust to a new squad who'd question their loyalty for not only following a traitor, but then abandoning the ones left behind by transferring. Not everyone in every squad was like that, but there were enough to make it an issue.

Renji worried that eventually, something or someone was going to snap. Maybe this guy was only the first.

He shuddered, and hoped that somehow a solution for their situation could be found, preferably before anyone else could get it into their head to pull a stunt like this, because letting the arrancar in wasn't the only thing that the traitor was responsible for.

He'd also rigged a virus into the system that once the senkaimon was shut down, it would stay shut down for a set period. No one was getting in or out of the Seiretei and no communications could be sent for 72 hours.

Renji growled softly. Bastard. Aizen could attack Karakura and they wouldn't know about it. Taichou and his team could be captured or killed—or both—and they wouldn't know about that either. Squad Twelve was scrambling to combat the virus and get everything restored, but at the joint taichou/fukutaichou emergency meeting that had been held late last night they had warned everyone that they didn't expect to see much progress for at least 24 hours from the time they'd gotten started. There was just too much to be done to diagnose the full extent of the damage and then reverse it.

He kicked a rock and sent it skittering across the pavement. This whole scheme sucked! It gave Aizen the opportunity to do far too much damage, while they were reduced to nothing more than sitting ducks and their comrades deprived of the ability to either come home or receive help. Hell, they couldn't even _call _for help.

At least Hitsugaya and his team had Ichigo, his friends, Urahara and Yoruichi, if she was around. Byakuya and his men were even more vulnerable, and had no aid at all. It was estimated that the taichou and his team would be stranded for at least 36 hours, unless by some miracle things went faster than anticipated. Renji was praying for that miracle, because the last thing he wanted to be doing 36 hours from now was burying his comrades or his lover, or watch Aizen gloat at them that he had the famed Kuchiki Byakuya in his clutches and was doing any number of unspeakably horrible things to him. Like brainwashing him to use against them, or torturing him to death, or…

He couldn't finish that thought. He would just end up throwing up his lunch on the side of the pavement.

Whatever happened, it wouldn't end well. That was the bottom line. It didn't matter _what_ Aizen did, any of the things he could put Byakuya through made Renji's blood boil with rage.

The buildings around him began to tremble, and he snapped back to attention and quickly clamped down on his reiatsu, bringing it back under his control.

A voice behind him made him turn around.

"Renji, is everything alright?"

Kira looked normal enough, sorrowful eyes and the solemn downward curve of his mouth just as Renji remembered from when they'd last seen each other, months earlier. The other was a bit scuffed up from the battle the day before, but then again, weren't they all?

"Sorry about that, Izuru," he said, smiling guiltily. "I'm worried, and it's making my temper less than cheerful. I'll feel a lot better when they finally get the senkaimon repaired so we can make sure Kuchiki Taichou and the rest are still safe and haven't been discovered."

The other nodded in understanding, his eyes taking on a troubled, anxious look. "I feel the same way."

Renji scrubbed his hand over his face, suddenly remembering. "Shit, that's right. Taichou let Shuuhei go along with them."

In truth it was a comfort to Renji that Byakuya had another person with him who was at least of fukutaichou level ability. Not to knock his own squadmates, but a 9th seat and a rookie like Rikichi weren't going to be of tremendous use if the worst happened and Aizen found them. And from what he knew of the Squad Twelve scientist they were escorting, he wouldn't expect him to be much help either. Shuuhei hated to fight, but give him a reason and he was just as deadly as any. Renji was confident he'd look after Byakuya for him, since the taichou's own lieutenant couldn't be there to do it himself. Had the situation been reversed and Tousen hadn't betrayed Soul Society, Renji would have done the same for Shuuhei, both because it was his duty as a shinigami, and because of their friendship.

But poor Izuru was in the same boat Renji was, even though the other wasn't aware of it. Izuru was worried about Shuuhei not just as a friend and comrade, but as a boyfriend and lover. He stood to lose just as much as Renji did if something happened to the stranded Hueco Mundo team.

The redhead sighed. There wasn't much either of them could do, and waiting sucked, but he'd be a lousy a friend if he didn't try and at least boost Izuru's spirits. He couldn't talk about him and Byakuya, as their relationship wasn't allowed to be made public unless they decided to make it permanent and the noble figured out some way to get the Counsel of Elders off his back, but he could at least and try to instigate a happier conversation.

"So how have things between you two been? It's been so long since I've been back I'm really out of the loop."

Izuru gave him a faint smile. "Really well, actually. I…" he looked around as if to make certain none one was paying attention to their conversation. "I brought up the 'M'- word to my family the other night. I wanted to see if they would have any objections."

"M-word?" Renji was confused.

The blonde fukutaichou looked uncomfortable. "Can we talk somewhere less public?"

Renji shrugged. "I'm on my way to the Academy now. If you want to follow, I don't think we'll see anyone we know on the way. Well, except for some of the Squad Four people."

"Why would you be going to the Academy? You don't teach a class there and you just got back from a Living World deployment," Izuru queried, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

Renji blushed. "I… let's just say I met someone. Or more accurately, we stopped messing around, came clean about how we felt, and now I need to talk to Unohana about contraceptive treatments. She's actually lecturing on the whole male fertility subject to one of the medicinal arts classes in a few minutes."

"Ah," Izuru's voice lowered. "So you and Kuchiki Taichou finally fessed up, huh?"

The tattooed shinigami's eyes widened and darted around frantically to make sure they were still not being observed by anyone on the street.

"Whaa…! How'd you…? What makes you think it's him?"

"Please, Renji. You do a really good job of acting like a professional, but I don't think you could stop making goo-goo eyes at your captain if you tried. Because you act like a good fukutaichou should I doubt anyone'll ever say anything, but it's still obvious. Especially to someone like me who spends most of their time observing people as opposed to getting in the thick of things," Izuru pointed out.

Renji sighed. "Fair enough. But you can't tell anyone! We weren't together all that long before I got sent to Karakura and I'm hoping not to screw things up and ruin my chances of picking things back up with him once this whole senkaimon crap's resolved."

Izuru smiled. "Don't worry. I won't say anything unless you give me the okay or you two make it public."

"Thanks. So are you going to come along and explain this 'M'-word, or do you have other things to take care of?"

"I'll come along with you. Things are quiet at the Division for the moment, and we haven't gotten to talk in a long while. I'd say we could meet up after work but for all we know we could be getting a summons to Hueco Mundo or the Fourth at any time."

Renji shuddered as they started walking. "Ugh, please don't say things like that."

Izuru gave him a sympathetic look. "Sorry. Call it an old habit from working triage in the Fourth. I tend to be a bit frank with myself in situations like this."

"Understandable. Now, _please_ enlighten me as to what this 'M'-word is."

The blonde looked at the ground, suddenly shy. "I brought the subject of marriage up with my family. I wanted to see if they'd object to me asking Shuuhei if he'd like to make our relationship permanent."

Renji was surprised. "Woah… Have you talked to Shuuhei about this? I mean, did you pop the question?"

Izuru shook his head. "No, not yet. I didn't want to propose and then have my family take offense. They've been very generous in raising me since my parents died, so I'd like to keep the peace with them if I can. They were already aware I was in a relationship with another fukutaichou, and I'm not heir or anything so there's less pressure on me to make a political match. I just wanted to show my respect by informing them of my intentions. They would prefer I settled down with a noble girl, but Shuuhei's respected enough and we haven't caused them any scandal, so I'm free to ask him if I can work up the nerve to."

"You think you two are ready for that?"

"Truthfully, had things turned out a bit differently I might have waited longer. But after loosing two captains and the Seiretei being in such chaos… I don't know, I guess I just feel like I need something solid to hold on to. Someone that's not going to leave me. It might be a bit early, but I don't think it's too rushed. It's been two years, and if anything I'm even more in love with him now than I was when we started seeing each other."

Renji let out a long breath. "Look… If you think it's the right thing for both of you, then I'll support you. Hell, I'll even help you pick out an engagement gift if you'd like. But don't do it if you're not one hundred percent positive. If there's even a shadow of a doubt that you two are ready to take that step, then be grateful you at least have your family's acceptance and wait until it feels right."

Izuru gave him a long, thoughtful look. "Thanks, I'll remember that. I think… well, I was going to wait a week or so and think things over, but with him being stuck in Hueco Mundo I think I'd be afraid to ask so soon once we get him and the others back. He might take it the wrong way and think I only did it because I got scared I'd lose him."

"Sounds smart to me. Hey… since we're heading to listen in on a class on the subject… what kind of birth control are you on? I haven't taken the stuff for years so I don't know if they're still using the same crap or if they've got something better."

Izuru laughed. "I remember. You got so pissed because it made it harder for you to build muscle tone."

"Yea. Not for nothing but I didn't exactly appreciate that. Especially when I got transferred to the Eleventh and they were getting on my case for being scrawny." Renji glared at the ground. "Good thing there's another unspoken rule that guys in the Eleventh just don't go on birth control. Or if they do they hide it."

The blonde kept chuckling. "Let's see… there's a few different kinds out now. They're still all in pill form. Unfortunately every one of them seems to have a lousy effect on Shuuhei. But the one I'm on is different from the one you were taking before. I haven't noticed any difference in how I'm able to keep my weight or stay toned."

"Any drawbacks?"

"My appetite's lower. I have to pay more attention or I might forget to eat. Shuuhei got understandably pissed when I pulled a couple of long shifts and ended up not eating for two days."

Renji nodded, as they entered the Academy building and he followed Izuru towards the medicinal arts wing, where all the classes were held for students aspiring to be healers. There was a bulletin board with a list of all upcoming lectures. They stopped long enough to find Unohana's and then made their way to the classroom. The two slipped in the back and took up standing room near the door. Unohana was just about to start and nodded in welcome.

"I didn't expect to see you two here," Isane said as she walked past them, handing out materials to students as she went.

"We just came to listen in. I wanted to speak with Unohana Taichou and since she's lecturing on the subject…" Renji trailed off, trying to look nonchalant as a couple of the students eyed the three fukutaichou with interest.

The silver-haired woman nodded. "No problem, so long as you don't interrupt."

"Thanks."

She smiled and walked away, admonishing a couple of students for chattering as Unohana began speaking.

"Today we will be discussing an interesting phenomena only observed amongst male souls gifted with abilities that would make them candidates for this very Academy."

"Psh, yea. Getting knocked up's pretty interesting."

A couple of the students giggled. Unohana remained unperturbed, but her voice brokered no argument. "I see. Perhaps you are not yet mature enough to partake in this discussion. I am aware that this class in particular is scheduled to graduate at the end of the summer. I can assure you that if such a simple thing as reproduction is too much for you to muster the professional poise to handle, then I'm afraid there will be little hope for you when faced with the severe wounds that can result in the event you and your squadmates are attacked by a hollow. I also will not be able to rely on you in the Fourth Division, as it would be unprofessional of me to subject my patients to suffer the care of such immature children. Especially when the topic we are discussing today is one that comes up on a fairly regular basis. Kira Fukutaichou, Abarai Fukutaichou, would you agree?"

The students collectively turned to look at the two officers.

"If they can't talk about the birds and the hell butterflies without giggling like little kids, then what am I going to do if I or someone I'm involved with ever comes to you with a question about the contraceptives we're using? Or maybe we're worried that one of us might have gotten 'knocked up'. I don't need a healer that's going to laugh in my face, and I wouldn't tolerate anyone making fun of my partner," Renji glared at the class.

"Indeed," Izuru agreed. "As a former member of Squad Four, I can't say I'd want to work alongside someone I couldn't count on to give the patient the respect they deserve. It not only gives the entire Squad a bad name, but it encourages people not to seek medical aid and take things into their own hands, which has happened and with disastrous results. This subject is a particularly touchy one, since males traditionally can't conceive and give birth. But since male shinigami aren't able to help it any more than they can help having a zanpakutou spirit, it doesn't benefit anyone to be callous and disrespectful. My partner and I had a scare a while back, and I promise you it was anything but funny."

The students returned their attention to the taichou standing at the front of the class, looking suitably rebuked. Unohana wasted no time in continuing.

"To understand this phenomenon, we must remember that all souls contain reiryoku—spirit energy, which sustains their existence. Normally a soul only possesses as much reiryoku as is needed to survive. However, there is a small percentage of souls that possess an abundance of reiryoku, which they are also capable of converting into reiatsu—spiritual power. This is used to manifest a zanpakutou and perform kidou, hodou, and other abilities associated with shinigami. Additionally reiatsu is projected outwards to challenge or intimidate an opponent in battle, reveal our location, and even assess one another's moods. Reiatsu is more commonly spoken of, because it is the external manifestation of our shinigami powers. But reiryoku is just as important. Remember—power cannot exist without energy, but energy is not power until it is converted into such. But no matter which form you encounter it in, reiryoku is unique to each shinigami, almost like a spiritual extension of their DNA."

Unohana paused to pull out several diagrams of the inner workings of a shinigami male, using a wand to point to each relevant part as she continued her explanation.

"Now, when a male ejaculates sperm travels up the vas deferens which loops through the lower abdomen, circling around the top of the bladder before it joins with the seminal vesicle to mix with fluids that are then propelled out of the body. In humans and normal souls, the vas deferens is a solid tube. But shinigami are creatures of energies, very powerful energies capable of manifesting in very physical ways. In male shinigami, not only does semen get ejected, so too does reiatsu. For us reiatsu is involved in conception regardless of the parents' gender. Reiryoku circulates throughout the entire body just like blood, and its flow is channeled and directed by seven spirit centers, sort of like seven spiritual hearts, one each located in the head, shoulders, chest, abdomen, and legs. These spirit centers act as the conduits that convert reiryoku into reiatsu, and the one in the abdomen injects that reiatsu into the sperm through tiny permeations in the portion of the vas that rests over the bladder. What many people do not take into account is that sperm do not exist in the vas deferens only during an orgasm. There is a small amount present at all times and it is viable. In male shinigami that sperm is able to seep out through the same channels that inject reiatsu during orgasm, becoming infused with reiryoku in the process and pooling in the lower abdomen. This sperm pool is allowed to build up for a time, until it reaches a certain volume and the majority of sperm have come to the end of their lifespan and died. The body then clears it away with a quick reiatsu pulse and a new sperm pool will start to build. Sperm are delicate, so this pulse is too weak for most shinigami to notice, and it wouldn't seem like any more than a muscle twinge if they did.

We should note that in women it is actually a myth that conception cannot occur with anal intercourse, as the cervix is close enough to the rectum that sperm can find their way into the correct organ and then proceed to the egg, though it is rare.(1) It is much the same with shinigami males, except the chances of it happening are far greater because the reiatsu in their sperm is attracted to the reiryoku in the sperm pooling in the abdomen. Like a magnet, the foreign reiatsu in the partner's sperm is drawn to the reiryoku-filled sperm pool, causing the partner's sperm to migrate through the intestinal wall. Of course not all sperm are capable of surviving the trip, but those few reiatsu-infused sperm strong enough to make it collide with the reiryoku-infused ones. The outer bodies of two colliding sperm break open from the intensity of the energies and are stuck together as the reiatsu and reiryoku spin, mixing not just energy and power but also chromosomes. The reiryoku and reiatsu are of loose cohesion, allowing them to mix, fuse and become a new, unique reiryoku signature. This attaches itself to the chromosomes—which have now combined to form the basis for a whole new DNA profile—and recycles and reforms the remnants of their outer bodies to form the body of a zygote. Each zygote then gives off a reiatsu flare, causing the destruction of remaining individual sperm, and zygotes with weaker reiatsu. This lasts for several minutes and afterwards only the strongest zygote remains. Most of the time there is only one, but if there are multiple zygotes of equivalent reiatsu, it's possible then to have fraternal siblings.

The parent's body, which has already formed a protective shielding of it's own around these power flares to contain and isolate what is now a foreign reiryoku, consolidates that shielding to the remaining reiryoku-filled zygote. The small amount of estrogen present in male bodies triggers the body to start nourishing the developing embryo, and draws needed elements together to create a placenta to form inside the shielding, just like a chicken's body deposits the components of a shell around an egg. During the first trimester the body's reiryoku stockpiles more material inside the shielding, manipulating it to form an organ that functions as a uterus, but has no fallopian tubes or ovaries. A birth canal also develops, attaching right behind the perineum, but remains collapsed and closed until labor. As the baby grows and presses down the pelvic ligaments stretch and loosen so the hips begin to widen, which can result in lower back pain. Labor is a process that evolves over a period of days, but for males takes far longer than it does for women. The muscles on the side of the birth canal separate and widen, the remaining barrier of skin breaks, and the pubis symphisis becomes more mobile and during labor dislocates to allow the hips to widen that little bit extra and allow the baby to pass through. For males it can take as short as 18 hours and as long as 48 hours for the birth to occur, though it's usually shorter for second or third pregnancies as the pelvis remains more elastic. Labor itself is longer because although the hips are widened, even then it is still more difficult to work the child's body through them."

The taichou of the Fourth turned away from her diagrams and regarded her class with quiet amusement. The ladies of the student body looked mildly fascinated and in a few cases gleeful, while many of the men looked more than a bit green around the gills. She smiled. It was the same every year. For the next few days the girls would gloat over Nature finally getting a little bit of payback for all the millennia that the female population spent suffering in childbed. The boys on the other hand would be more abstinent than ever before, those who were heterosexual would lord their lack of risk over those who were homosexual or bisexual, and more than a few would attempt to switch orientations. Then once they re-realized that it was completely avoidable with the proper precautions, they'd settle down again.

"Are there any questions?"

A young man in the front tentatively raised his hand. Unohana nodded to him.

"You said that when the zygotes form they give off a reiatsu flare to kill off all but the strongest. Does the… parent feel this?"

Unohana shook her head. "Under most circumstances no, the flares are too small for the birth father to feel it. However, just as some women swear they can feel the embryo implanting in their womb, so too are there some male shinigami who swear that they can feel that reiatsu flare."

A female student was next to ask, "With traditional conception the zygote can only have a chromosome pairing if xx or xy. What about a zygote with two y-chromosomes since in this case it is possible for them to combine?"

"So far as we can tell the two chromosomes are not compatible. Studies show that two such sperm do not manage to mix to produce a proper zygote. The reiryoku/reiatsu combination is there, but not the genetic fusion, so those always end up destroyed when the other zygotes' reiatsu flares."

The next question was from another male student. Upon hearing his voice it was obvious he was the one to have made the rude comment at the beginning of the class.

"So, male shinigami who have babies end up with girl hips?"

Unohana shook her head again. "Not in the way you're thinking. Women who give birth wind up with fractionally wider hips because of the ligaments that allow the hip bones to 'open up', so to speak, during labor. But you wouldn't notice this by looking at them. With male shinigami it's much the same. Of course, the more children you have the more changes in your body you'll see, but even if you visually noticed a slightly wider pelvis after, say, your fourth or fifth child, it still wouldn't reshape the bones themselves as would be necessary to produce—as you call them—'girl hips'."

"There are guys who go through this more than once?" the student looked like he thought such an idea was completely ludicrous.

The raven-haired taichou chuckled softly. "Both shinigami males and females alike have spent many a century speculating over the wisdom of going through such an inconvenient, embarrassing, dangerous and ultimately painful condition more than once. Some elect not to, while others are so in love with the children that are the product of all that effort that they don't see it as anything to bat an eye at. It's all based on the individual."

Renji personally didn't like this kid. He was a bit too brash and contemptuous for the fukutaichou's taste. An exchanged glance with Izuru told him the blonde was thinking the same thing. Whatever his reasons for joining the medicinal arts class, it was obvious that he thought much the same of men bearing their own offspring that the Eleventh Division did—not favorably. What this student should know by now was that the Fourth didn't allow its new recruits to go directly into a specialty, and that at some point or another he would be required to help out on a male pregnancy case. If his attitude didn't get some kind of adjustment, and soon, Unohana would make good on her promise not to allow him entrance into the Fourth. Rejection from a first-choice squad immediately after graduation was rare and humiliating, as the new shinigami wouldn't typically have a reputation yet, but Unohana might make an exception rather than risk healer-patient relation problems if they looked imminent enough.

"Now, on to the ways we can prevent such a thing from happening but still allow you boys to have your fun."

"Can Vitamin C work? That's what my sister takes," one girl asked.

"Sadly, no, though it's been tried," Unohana answered. "Large Vitamin C doses can help to thin the lining of the uterus to make implantation less successful, but it wouldn't work for a male that doesn't have that organ to begin with. It's an option I wish I could give to patients who have allergies or bad reactions to the other methods, but it only works for women."(2)

"What about condoms like they have in the Living World?"

Renji smirked wryly. _'Sorry kid. Been there, tried that.'_

"Because of the intensity of the reiatsu being ejaculated, a condom would break every time. Actually it would be burned through, to be specific. You notice how thick the gloves are that we healers use to when treating patients to protect us from their energies. Even then those aren't always successful depending on the reiatsu levels of the patient. You would need a condom that thick at least and quite frankly it would dull the sensations you would get from intercourse too much for anyone to want to bother with it. Perhaps one day we'll finally develop a material thin enough to make that option available, but not at the moment."

"That would be great for Shuuhei and I if they did," Izuru murmured. Renji nodded in agreement. He would have used them with Byakuya ten months ago when they'd started having sex, which would have put the taichou's mind to rest over that whole 'it only takes once' saying; a major obstacle in Renji's efforts to get Byakuya in bed. The fukutaichou himself might also have been able to sweet talk his way out of going back on birth control too.

"Contraceptives come in the form of pills or monthly injections. The injections start off strong but loose about 50% effectiveness by the time they are to be renewed. There is only a three day window after that thirty day mark before the effects wear off entirely, so males using them must pay close attention to their field assignments and keep track of when they're due for that next shot and make appointments accordingly. Obviously not everyone remembers to do this. The pills offer constant full-strength protection, but they wear off after 24 hours so they must be taken every day.

Currently, there are three kinds of treatments offered. The first choice for many alters the spin of the reiryoku in the abdomen to prevent it from drawing the reiatsu-infused sperm through the intestinal wall. This method has proven approximately 94% effective, as sperm can still migrate through. Common side effects include vertigo, nausea, and difficulties controlling kidou spells, though this usually meters out as the body adjusts and compensates."

"Shuuhei had all of that," Izuru reminisced. "Except that his body never compensated."

"The second causes the vas deferens to constrict and close off those tiny permeations, so sperm cannot leak into the abdomen. Side effects include mild to severe abdominal pains, painful ejaculation—as the vas can cut off completely and suffer a buildup of sperm—and fertility problems if the vas constricts tightly enough to be damaged by insufficient blood flow over long-term use. We've also seen blood clots."

Renji could see his blonde friend shudder out of the corner of his eye as he took a deep breath. "Shuuhei used to get such horrible cramps on that stuff he couldn't stand up. And I never felt so guilty as I did when he actually started crying when I got him to climax. And that last night…"

Renji felt his chest constrict painfully at the memories that brought up. He remembered the night he'd gotten a frantic call that Shuuhei'd been taken to the Fourth and could he please come sit with Izuru. The Ninth Squad fukutaichou was in severe pain and during the exam it was discovered he had developed a clot from that type of birth control, necessitating emergency surgery. Izuru had almost been inconsolable blaming himself, and Renji had actually believed him for just a moment when he said they were never having sex again.

"A third type, the oldest and least popular, dampens the reiryoku in the body, tricking it into thinking it's in a weakened state so it doesn't divert energies to create the shielding around a zygote's reiryoku. Without that shielding to provide an anchor for the body to nourish the zygote until it finishes developing the necessary structures around it, it will simply die off and be reabsorbed by the body, much like a fertilized egg in a woman that does not get implanted into the uterine lining. Common side effects are reiatsu plunges, fainting spells, lethargy, and sporadic failing of shinigami powers for up to a few minutes at a time. Most men don't opt for this except as a last resort if the other two don't work. Not only can the drops in reiatsu be dangerous if they occur during a mission, they also interfere with the development of zanpakutou powers and—to prove you boys can be just as vain as the ladies—it also hampers the development of muscle tone."

A couple of groans could be heard amongst the students. Renji didn't blame them. That last one was the type he'd used years back and to this day he sometimes wondered if he might have reached ban kai level earlier had he gone without it.

"So, what if we don't want to deal with those kinds of side-effects? What are the chances of a male conceiving if they don't use contraceptives?"

"In all reality the phrase 'it only takes one time' is not inaccurate; however, it's also not a guarantee either. For healthy males simply enjoying themselves, the chances are 5% per month, since it does take about 30 days from the time the sperm pool begins to build to the time the body gets rid of it. Those who wish to conceive can come to the Fourth Division for special injections that dilate the vas and boost the reiryoku, to increase their fertility. This will up their chances to about 15% per treatment. Before this we put a monitor on them to be worn for a few weeks so we can establish a calendar of their fertile cycle, as you boys don't menstruate. It's unhealthy to use these injections more than once every thirty days, so we try to time it when the greatest number of viable sperm are pooled together. If you don't want to use the birth control methods I've already listed—or for medical reasons _can't_—we'll make you a calendar and you'll simply have to hope for the best and limit your sexual activities during the days you're most likely to conceive."

From there the questions got way more technical and Renji turned to Izuru. "Well, that was the part I wanted to hear. Want to grab something to eat? I'll stop by the Fourth and make an appointment later. This lecture's supposed to go a while longer."

"Sure."

The two nodded to Unohana and made their way back out of the Academy compound before hitting up one of their favorite bars near the Tenth Division offices.

Sitting down with their food and drinks, Renji sighed. "Damn… that definitely made me re-think how much I want a family."

Izuru chuckled. "I don't think it's that bad. Honestly, if someone had come up to you fifty years ago and told you all the negative things there were to know about the Gotei 13, think you might have reconsidered relocating to a nicer area of the Rukon before taking the Academy exam?"

Renji snorted. "Maybe. But considering how hard it is to move into the nicer areas I still think I'd have made the same choice."

"So with that in mind, don't you think that maybe Unohana might be right about the end result being worth it? Being a shinigami put you through a lot of shit, but it got you and Rukia out of Inuzuri. If that hadn't happened think of all the friends you wouldn't have now. Think of the person you're so enamored with that you never would have even gotten to lay eyes on."

The redhead's mind filled with images of Byakuya's gorgeous, smokey eyes gleaming with affection and joy and passion as they lay together in post-orgasmic bliss, with determination and fire as they sparred against each other, and the gentle curve of his smile in between the kisses they'd shared. He couldn't imagine his life without him. He still woke up with nightmares that the Fourth Division had failed to save Byakuya the previous summer. Nightmares where he actually died on Shinsou's blade. And each time he woke up gasping and sweating, Renji swore himself the same promise anew.

Now that he and Byakuya had mended their relationship and torn down the barriers to see just how far that relationship could go, he'd go through whatever hell or high water he had to, to make sure he never had to face life without the gorgeous taichou again.

"Now imagine a child that takes after the two of you," Izuru's voice cut through his lovely mental images of Byakuya.

Oh, the possibilities… Would they be boy or girl? Have red hair or black, or another color entirely? Would they have Byakuya's eyes, or maybe his chin? Would his shit-sense-of-humored zanpakutou see fit to stamp them with some kind of mark, so that Most Noble House of Kuchiki couldn't _ever_ deny where their newest addition got half their genes from? Speaking of, what kind of zanpakutou would they have? A melee-type like his, a kidou-type, or an elemental like Rukia's? Or maybe it would be one in a class all its own like Byakuya's.

An image rose unbidden of Byakuya, smiling and happy, leading their child in a friendly game of shunpo-tag, enjoying the chase for the first time in decades since this time Yoruichi wasn't the one goading him into it. Another image saw him instructing the youth in kidou, while Renji looked on, forbidden from participating except to demonstrate how _not_ to fire shakkahou. Of the noble sitting with the child in his lap as he read to them, or showed them how to write calligraphy. Renji could imagine the walks the three of them could take up in the mountains on their days off, him swinging the child up to ride on his shoulders as they went.

He noticed that he kept thinking 'child', just as a generic term. But in reality it would have to be one gender or the other. That realization made him pause. Did he want a son, or a daughter? He tried to imagine both, and found that he really couldn't choose if he wanted to. He'd be happy with either, and completely ecstatic to have both…

But then his stupid brain—or maybe Zabimaru had something to do with it—had to go and remind him that to get those lovely offspring, _someone_ would have to give birth to them.

"I see your point," he conceded, his mind coming out of the clouds and back down to earth as he regarded his half-eaten meal thoughtfully. "But I still can't wrap my mind around the idea of actually being… I mean, someone's gotta go through the whole pregnancy and labor thing, and I don't really have any desire to sit in the Fourth Division with my feet in stirrups and Unohana yelling at me to push."

Izuru almost choked on his tea as he snorted inelegantly, cool demeanor momentarily lost as the laughing fit that mental image provoked made him inhale when he really shouldn't have. Renji pounded him on the back, trying to help bring the liquid out of his lungs.

"Oi! No dying on me! I refuse to be the one to inform your third seat or Yamamoto that you suffocated yourself laughing at me. And it's not that funny!"

Izuru wiped his chin off on his napkin and grinned at his friend. "Yes, it _is _that funny, when you describe it that way. But I do agree with you. I have no desire to wind up with my old taichou between my legs pulling a baby out of me either."

Renji cocked his head in confusion. "Really? You always seemed like the type who'd want kids."

"Oh I do. Believe me, I'd love to both be a father and show my relatives I still have a sense of familial duty even though I don't have a noble bride in my sights. I just said I don't want to be pregnant," the blonde fukutaichou shrugged.

"Aaannd how does Shuuhei feel about this?" the redhead's brows furrowed, remembering how freaked out their senpai had been a year and a half ago when he'd had that scare. Regardless of whose relationship they were talking about, it still came down to the same thing—if you wanted kids of your own flesh and blood, somebody had to get pregnant. And quite frankly, Renji'd always thought that between Shuuhei and Izuru, it'd be Izuru. Somehow, Izuru asking Shuuhei to play the role of 'mommy', never quite crossed his mind, and he had no idea how the other fukutaichou would react if his boyfriend ever _did_ ask it of him.

Izuru shrugged. "We'll discuss it when we're ready to take that step, and that could take years. Right now I'm just getting to the point of considering marriage. Even if I do get up the nerve and propose in the near future, the wedding won't happen immediately, and even after that I'd like at least a few years to enjoy being newlyweds before we resign ourselves to pregnancy symptoms, labor pains, sleepless nights, baby chasing, and all that comes with being a parent. I'd certainly like to wait until this whole issue of having three captainless squads is taken care of, at least. But who knows? Maybe Shuuhei won't mind bearing my child. Or maybe in a few years I'll change my mind and not be so against the idea. We'll figure it out eventually. Besides, you're not in so different a situation."

He regarded Renji with curiosity. "What do you think the chances are that you'll change your mind? Or are you actually going to try to get you-know-who to let you knock _him_ up?"

Renji opened his mouth to give a response and wound up with it hanging open as he realized he didn't really have an answer to that.

What _was_ he going to do? He didn't want to be pregnant, but logically that would mean Byakuya would have to do it, since Renji wasn't so keen on the idea of bringing in a surrogate if it wasn't absolutely necessary. They'd been together such a short time, the whole 'parenthood' discussion honestly hadn't even come up except for the very understandable agreement that they couldn't let it happen unintentionally.

But if down the road Byakuya said _yes_ to carrying their kids…

The redhead tried to imagine the dark-haired noble laying in bed, or standing out in the gardens under the moonlight, arms cradling a very round, very pregnant belly. He couldn't quite get the image to form, but his heart swelled with pride and an aching longing to touch that belly, to hold the taichou in his arms and cradle that growing life in his hands. Oh, if Byakuya would actually let him… would actually agree to it…

Then the image faded away as once again reality came crashing back to spoil his fun; reminding him that he had no idea how his noble lover really felt about children, he only knew that he was expected to have them one day to carry on running the family after his time ended. For all Renji knew, Byakuya could detest the idea of getting pregnant even more than he did. And what then?

This was all assuming of course that their relationship lasted long enough for even the subject of marriage to come up, as no noble had a child outside of wedlock provided an 'accident' didn't happen.

Renji looked down at his water, having foregone sake seeing as it was still the middle of the day and Byakuya would _kill _him if he came back and found the fukutaichou drunk during work hours.

He frowned.

Assuming their relationship lasted, stood the test of time… would they be allowed to tie the knot? To even _think_ about tying the knot? The Kuchiki clan had objected fiercely to the idea of Byakuya marrying Hisana, but she not only hadn't been noble, she hadn't been a shinigami either. Renji, on the other hand, was a ban kai level shinigami that in time would one day wear a captain's haori. The redhead recalled that Kuchiki Kouga hadn't been a noble or even a captain either, but because he'd distinguished himself so well as a shinigami in the Sixth Division, he'd been _invited_ to marry Byakuya's aunt and join the family. Would Renji be allowed to do the same? Or would he have to ultimately choose between finding someone he was allowed to settle down with and keeping his relationship with Byakuya despite the fact that it would never go beyond where it was already? Or would they enjoy years of happiness only to be torn apart when duty forced Byakuya to take some noble woman's hand?

"Renji?"

Izuru was giving him a concerned look, obviously caught off guard by his sudden somber mood and the way he realized he was glaring darkly at his water glass.

'_Dammit Izuru. The whole point of hanging out was to get our minds _off_ of the doom and gloom crap. Now I feel even worse than before.'_

But at least with the current company he was keeping, there was a possible silver lining that he could get the answers to his questions. Hopefully, they wouldn't make him any more depressed than his train of though was already making him.

"Let me ask you something, since you're from a noble house. I know yours is one of the lower ones, but you'd still have a much better idea than me. Say I want it. Say I'm head-over-fucking-heels and I don't want it to end. Say I want to one day pledge myself to him forever, and screw the fact that I'll have to live in their house and deal with their rules. Say I want those kids, and I want to have that discussion with him about who's going to carry them. Personally I'd love it if he'd say _yes_ to bearing my children, but even if he flat out refused, I wouldn't think a single resentful thing towards him. Hell, I'd even suck it up and do it myself just because I love him and it means that much to him considering the position he's in."

Renji turned away from his water glass to look directly into the blue eye not obscured by Izuru's bangs. The other fukutaichou had caught onto his train of thought, and was regarding him with an inscrutable expression.

"Do we even have a chance in hell? Or am I grinning like an idiot at the thought of building a life I won't even get the opportunity to no matter how much I love him?"

Izuru took a deep breath and gave Renji an appraising look. Choosing his words carefully, he gave his response.

"To be honest… Forty years ago, when you said you wanted to best Kuchiki Byakuya, I thought you were nuts. If I'd been a betting man I never would have laid money on you succeeding. I ached for you because I really thought that you were going to loose that friendship with Rukia forever. Then when Aizen transferred you out of Squad Five and you were struggling to start over again in Squad Eleven while me and Momo were both rising through the ranks in our own Divisions, I believed all over again that any ideas you had that you could stand on par with that man were exactly as I'd thought in the beginning—completely crazy. But you proved me wrong. You not only picked yourself back up and gained the same rank we did, but somehow, you managed to put yourself right in the same damned Squad as him. You may not have beaten him yet, but you've certainly gained his respect and you're certainly stronger than anyone ever thought you'd be. I'm not going to say it'll be easy, far from it. But if you ever wanted to have a decent shot at marrying the man you say you've got your eye on… Then it's just a matter of impressing his family so they'll let you join them. Mine is allowing me to court Shuuhei as I please because they approve of what he's accomplished and his place in the Gotei 13. I know he went nuts in the end, but Kuchiki Kouga was a similar case as well. _He_ wasn't even a fukutaichou, but he impressed Kuchiki Taichou's grandfather enough that he was invited to marry into the family anyway. If you keep going the way you are, and give it the same effort you gave to reach ban kai so you could go toe-to-toe with your captain, then I'd say yes, you do have a chance in hell. Just be sure you know what you're getting into if things go in that direction. He can't change his family, so don't hold it against him if you end up running into things that don't resonate well with you."

Renji nodded, grateful for the other's honesty and feeling his spirits pick up despite the warning in Izuru's words. He was aware that the Kuchiki clan was anal, and by his own personal standards bitchy as hell, but Byakuya made up for that. And honestly? If one day down the road they did end up making things between them permanent, the redhead wouldn't be the first in history to hate his in-laws.

But hearing from another noble's mouth that he and Byakuya had a chance was what was really important to him.

"Thanks, Izuru."

The blonde nodded, and the conversation fell silent as they finished their meal and paid.

Returning to the streets, Renji took a deep breath of the warm summer air and smiled at his friend.

"Alright, I'm gonna head back to the office and take care of the work I'm sure they've got piled up for me. I'll let you know if I hear anything." Sad to say that because he was Byakuya's fukutaichou, Renji would get word of the stranded team's status long before Izuru as fukutaichou of an uninvolved Squad would.

Izuru nodded. "Thank you."

They parted ways and Renji couldn't help but feel better, having done something other than just sit in his and Byakuya's office and brood while waiting for news. Izuru's confirmation that he and Byakuya had a chance, along with the pleasant images their conversation had sparked of what the possibilities were if they pursued that chance, wiped away the worry and frustration and made him almost gleeful at the thought of seeing his taichou again. Of course he was still worried, but he had something positive to hold on to as a counterbalance to that worry. Instead of dreading a possible bedside vigil in the Fourth, he found himself imagining meeting Byakuya at the senkaimon, taking him back either to the Sixth or his manor for a well-deserved bath and a meal, and then spending the night holding him and just enjoying being with him again. Whether things got a little more raunchy than that or not, were of little matter. He'd be too busy just appreciating being home again, with his lover in his arms.

He entered the Sixth Division compound and made a beeline straight for his desk and, as he suspected, the mountain of papers waiting for him. Sighing ruefully, he sat and reached for the first one, hoping the good feeling the couple of hours out had given him would be enough to last through what was likely to be one hell of a tedious afternoon's worth of paperwork.

'_Ah well, at least it'll be out of the way. Then when Taichou gets back he won't be able to use work as an excuse to get out of giving me the full story behind these weird behavior changes people keep talking about. Because once that's sorted out and he's finished washing the sand out of his hair, I have every intention of closing up the office _on time_, getting us some proper dinner, and keeping him wrapped up in my arms the entire night.' _

**~*~TBC…~*~**

**A/N****: Well, Renji… eh, not going to say a word. You'll find out soon enough… ^_^U Anyways, for those of you who have not been on my profile, I've complied a list of several options for Renji (and the Seiretei) to find out about his and Byakuya's child, as well as a couple of options for Izuru and Shuuhei. I haven't thrown my tentative outline away yet, but some of these are pretty juicy and have a lot of fun potential. So please, head on over to my profile! I'd really love to know what people think is going to happen. As it says on my profile, I won't guarantee that the most popular will be the actual outcome (who knows what That Damn Muse might come up with out of the blue), but you never know. Please vote! **

**Next time- We're back in Hueco Mundo and it's hurry up and wait for the baby to come. Poor Byakuya… anyone got a game plan?**

**Chapter Notations****: Both notations 1 and 2 are based on info I got off of this article- "12 Common Pregnancy Myths" (http: / www . familyresource . com / pregnancy / concerns-and-expectations / twelve-12-common-pregnancy-myths) **

**And as always, please remember to review. **

**Unsigned Review Responses****: **

**Katz- **Well, you're certainly correct that it's not going to be over just because the baby's born. Byakuya's certainly going to be in for it once his family find out. They're still sore over that whole bringing-peasants-into-the-noble-household thing… (I think they're just jealous because the peasants had a nicer disposition than them. :P) But anyways… Lol, I like the idea of the "…why is Kuchiki Taichou… screaming…" conversation. I'm really hoping people actually go on my profile and vote, because I'm having difficulty choosing between some of the ways I could resolve this part of the fic, and feedback rocks... even if I have no idea what TDM will do with it. ^_^U I'm glad you liked Rikichi. I went back and re-watched the episode where Renji wakes up after the fight with Byakuya, and Rikichi and Hanatarou are with him. I forgot how cute he is and what a nice little speech he can give… I'm still debating whether to do more with Shuuhei and his little pregnancy tests or not.

**Readingoptomistic- **^_^ Glad you're enjoying it. Yea, I was actually really interested when I compared pregnancy and stress symptoms and saw how many were common to both lists. And there's a vicious little part of me that just likes to ruffle the Kuchiki council's feathers… just because of their major capacity to be stuck up little bastards. (If this doesn't rile them I don't know what will. ^_^ tehee.) Lol, yea… as I write I'm constantly finding a need for information I don't have… and then it's off to google and Bleach wiki again. *grin*

**Irritatedbookworm- **Lol, your Central 46 comment made me curious as I don't think I read the article on them before. And whoa! Totally scary… makes me *really* glad that's not my gov't. And I realized something when I read it… they *did* want to remove Urahara's powers as punishment for making the Hougyoku! I had thought he just got off with exile… Even more reason not to draw their attention to him, so they don't order the rest of his sentence carried out… poor him _and_ Benihime if that happens! And Spunky0ne happens to be one of my fave authors, but it's been forever since I read that particular fic. I popped over to the chapter just to see what you were talking about, and it's not dissimilar to what I had planned. During labor, stress and emotional turmoil will make controlling reiatsu very difficult, if not impossible as focus goes out the window regarding anything not to do with riding out the pain and pushing. Since a shinigami's body reflexively produces reiatsu as a defense-mechanism, this will cause reiatsu flares as the body will seek to supply energy support not unlike an adrenaline rush, but there'll be no will containing it. If anything Byakuya's straining and pushing would _help _propel it outwards because his will would be focused on getting the baby out. So yea, creative measures will have to be taken to keep those shields from buckling. And don't worry about not being familiar with FF7, lol. I'm not familiar with the book or the character you compared Rikichi to in your last review… so let's just say that we each see characteristics in him that remind us of someone else who turned out to be kickass down the road. (Though, the reason I thought of Zack is because you compared Rikichi to a puppy. In FF7—particularly the Crisis Core prequel—Zack's very eager and energetic to the point of actually being nicknamed "the puppy" by his mentor in the SOLDIER military program. And he openly hero-worships both his mentor and the guy who's superior officer to both of them.) I haven't gotten around to reading the fics you recommended because I was determined to get this chapter done on time, but as soon as I can I'll take a look at them.


	8. Chapter 7

**What to Expect When You're Not Expecting**

**Author****: WhipOfLightHeartOfSword**

**Rating****: M/R**

**World****: Semi-AU, Orihime wasn't captured and the Fake Karakura Town arc didn't happen. The Winter War continues. **

**Pairings****: Renji/Byakuya, Izuru/Shuuhei (more to be announced)**

**Feedback****: Yes please, but no flames.**

**Warnings****: Mpreg, Yaoi, childbirth, medical themes**

**Disclaimer****: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, Shonen Jump, etc., not me. This is a not-for-profit fanwork. **

**(For full warnings/disclaimers please see Chapter 1.)**

**A/N****: *Drags TDM over to the computer and chains her to the chair* Hi all. Sorry it's taken two weeks to finish this instead of my normal one. This chapter absolutely **_**did not**_** want to write itself and That Damn Muse has been all over the place with different plotbunnies and unable to keep her mind on any one of them for more than five minutes at a time. And of course I'm back to school which definitely limits my writing time. I'm still not particularly in love with this chapter, but I'm to the point that I'm absolutely sick of working on it, though I may go over it again tomorrow or Thursday night just to see if I can't fine tune it a bit more. It is edited enough that I don't feel too guilty putting it up though, and I don't want to keep people hanging any longer. I found people's votes on my poll very interesting, and I decided to indulge the readers at least a little, but as I do not hear any hefty woman singing, as they say—it's not over yet. I still have to decide how the return to Seiretei is going to play out, and even though I've hinted at one of the outcomes for Shuuhei and Kira… it's not set in stone. So, if you want to try to poke my muse one direction or another and haven't done so already, I'm leaving the poll up, so you still have the chance to do so. Okay, I've talked enough. Enjoy. **

**4/26/11- Please excuse the crappy scene-breaks. For some reason FFnet's messing with my formatting again, so I had to BS something so people wouldn't have to do a double-take when the scene shifts unexpectedly. :(**

**~*~Chapter 7~*~**

"Shh… I got you. Just shh…"

Shuuhei's heart ached as Byakuya moaned through his teeth, trying not to wince and draw away as the noble pressed his forehead into the fukutaichou's chest. The edges of the kenseikan were decidedly pointy and not at all comfortable to have dug into his skin, but he grit his teeth and put up with it, knowing his discomfort paled in comparison to what Kuchiki Taichou had to be feeling. Though still caught in the midst of a contraction, the noble was trying his damndest not to cry out and risk drawing attention to them. Instead he was trying to use Shuuhei's shihakushou to muffle the small sounds he couldn't help, as well as to hide the tears brought forth by not only physical pain, but also emotional turmoil and fear.

It wasn't just physical discomfort that was making Shuuhei feel antsy. The longer they stayed out there, the more likely it was that they'd be noticed. As much as he didn't like the darker side of him that Kazeshini embodied, he trusted the zanpakutou with his life, and had no doubts that his blade would make him aware the moment a hollow stepped into sensory range. But just as one hollow managed to get through their safety precautions before, so too could another find a way to get the drop on them faster than Kazeshini could give him warning.

But returning to the relative safety of the cave would have to wait until Byakuya's contraction had passed and he was feeling strong enough to stand again. In a worst case scenario Shuuhei could carry him, but that would only humiliate a proud man who was already obviously feeling pretty wretched, and considering the fact that they might have to deliver that man's baby if the Seiretei couldn't come to their rescue in time, the fukutaichou felt it best to make himself be patient and at least give Kuchiki Taichou the opportunity to walk back to their comrades.

After what seemed like a small eternity to him, Byakuya sat up and pulled away. Shuuhei immediately let him go, though he stayed poised to catch him in case the noble proved unable to hold himself upright.

Byakuya felt utterly disgusted with himself as he wiped his tears away with the edge of his sleeve. How completely childish of him, loosing his composure like that. Of course he'd known that if they persisted the pains would eventually wear him down to the point where such a thing was inevitable, but that was of little comfort.

"Thank you," he said, desperate to cling to some modicum of propriety, feeble though it was.

"No problem," Shuuhei hated the necessity of the next words that would have to come out of his mouth, but they really couldn't stay out there in the open any longer.

"Do you think you can stand? We really should get back inside."

The thought of having to return to their companions and announce that yes, he—Kuchiki Byakuya—had indeed gotten himself with child and then managed to be out on a mission when he went into labor made the taichou feel distinctly nauseous, but Hisagi was entirely correct that they had lingered outside too long. He had no idea how long that contraction lasted, but he knew that they were courting significant potential for disaster with every second they delayed. No matter the embarrassment that awaited him, getting back out of sight the moment he could regain his feet was paramount. Better to remain alive and un-captured and face the censure of others for his disgraceful situation, than to find himself in a cell in Hueco Mundo facing down Aizen while his companions lay dead in the sand.

"Yes."

He shakily pushed himself up, grabbing hold of Hisagi's wrist for support as he stumbled slightly. These pains—contractions—were leaving him feeling decidedly wobbly and even more crippled than he had back when his water first broke.

The realization that _that_ was what the infernal trickle of liquid still sliding down his thighs was made his stomach lurch. Momentarily he wondered if he should warn Hisagi he might actually be sick, but that thought was fleeting and easily pushed to the wayside by the damning, monumental—and long overdue—epiphany that preceded it.

His water had broken. That could only mean he really _was_ in labor…

Only two coherent words could be discerned out of the frantic jumble of thoughts and emotions that whirled around like a tornado in his mind, while his stomach simultaneously assumed the sensation of having taken a plunge off a very high cliff—

'_Oh shit.' _

Despite the inner turmoil which made collapsing back into the sand and hyperventilating in panic seem tempting, outwardly his features remained schooled and calm, as he'd been drilled to keep them from the time he was a tiny child.

"Let's go. These contractions are getting closer together and I'd like to be off my feet when the next one hits."

Hisagi nodded and they made their way back around the rock face and into the cave. The sight of his companions roused in him the distinct and alien urge to run away, far away, at the swiftest pace he could manage, to find some place he could hide where he would not have to face the humiliation he was certain was about to come crashing down on him. He ruthlessly shoved the urge aside. Even if he did give in to it there was nowhere for him to go, no other safe place he knew he could hide, and no way he could get through this by himself. Labor was not something he had the ability to stop nor the knowledge to coach himself through. And there was also the child to think of. Despite having had no time in which to emotionally bond to the little one, the simple fact that it was _his _and just as not-in-control of the situation as he was aroused in him the same kind of basic, fierce protective instinct that he felt whenever Rukia found her way into trouble.

No matter how much damage the coming hours would do to him, he had to survive, had to get home, and had to do whatever was necessary to see that the child he was apparently about to bear would as well.

Rikichi was up and looking improved, if a bit shaky and pale. He, Rin and Mihane all knelt around a huge mound of sand near the back wall of the cave that had not been there when Byakuya and Shuuhei had stepped outside. Both taichou and fukutaichou tilted their heads in confusion.

"Um, hey," Rin greeted them, being the first to notice their return. "So what's the verdict?"

Byakuya stared uncomfortably at the wall, still looking outwardly calm but unable to muster the nerve to answer. After a few uncomfortable moments of silence Shuuhei chose to take pity on him. "We're going to need to get in contact with the Fourth as quickly as possible. Unless one of you knows how to deliver a baby."

"You mean he's really pregnant?" Rikichi squeaked, even though the delayed response should have been confirmation enough. Byakuya met his gaze solemnly for a moment, and then nodded.

"Oh Kami."

"Indeed," Shuuhei agreed. "Now, mind telling us what exactly is this?" he pointed at the sand mound. 

"We noticed that when you were having pains it was getting difficult for you to hold yourself up in seiza, and we didn't think you'd be comfortable flat on your back or leaning against a rock wall. So we piled the sand so you could lay down and still have your upper body elevated. Then we wouldn't have to lean over you all the time," Mihane explained, blushing and glancing shyly at her taichou as if unsure he'd take their actions as kindness, or insult.

Byakuya was surprised to find that not a single fiber of him felt any kind of insult or irritation with them whatsoever. Instead he simply felt touched that they would do something so thoughtful with no prompting at all. While still outside he'd just wanted to re-conceal himself somewhere he could curl up and rest safely. It hadn't even occurred to him that there wouldn't be any comfortable way to do that on the flat sand floor. For his companions to have done this showed a distinct sensitivity to how disconcerting it would be to take up such a vulnerable position laid flat out, and how uncomfortable staying propped up against the cave wall for hours on end would be. This simple yet brilliant solution would make it very easy for him to get the rest he needed, without sacrificing his ability to see the entirety of his surroundings and be up at a moment's notice.

"Thank you," he murmured, voice filled with gratitude.

Eager to be off his feet as the ache in his body was quickly increasing and becoming almost constant, Byakuya stepped forward and carefully lowered himself to the sand, grimacing as the cold, wet fabric of his hakama rubbed against his skin. He picked at it, trying to get it to lay in a fashion that was at least somewhat less aggravating and uncomfortable.

"You know, Kuchiki Taichou…" the noble looked up at her expectantly and Mihane gulped, hoping her next words wouldn't earn her the experience of a thousand blade shards flying at her face for her efforts. Her taichou might be in an almost amiable mood now, but she hadn't forgotten how easily Hisagi Fukutaichou's words had set off a mood swing and accompanying reiatsu flare not very long ago.

"You mentioned earlier that the opening between… you know, um… was 'leaking'. Well, since we know you're pregnant, um, that'll mean that your water's broken, and um…"

Byakuya fought the urge to sigh. This whole experience was mortifying, undignified, and only getting worse as time went on. Already he could feel the next contraction building and knew that he had maybe a minute left before it hit, making his patience diminish drastically. Verbally dancing around a topic because it would inevitably cause him more embarrassment wasn't going to help. If anything it might just make him more irritable, and he wasted no time in letting his 9th seat know this.

"Shirogane-san, just say it. Whatever it is it's not going to get any less humiliating, so please just get it out so we can deal with it."

She blushed furiously and nodded. "I noticed your hakama's soaked from your water breaking, but your cloak's still dry. I thought it might be better if instead of keeping the wet hakama on, you could sit on the sand and leave your cloak bunched up behind your back. Then any fluids can drain into the sand, and you'll still have a dry garment to keep on you. You can keep it draped over your front so you're not exposed… but if we can't get help in time and the baby comes while we're still here…"

Byakuya cried out and curled over his stomach as the contraction hit, the pain too severe this time to even _think_ about keeping silent. The four sitting around him couldn't do anything but watch with helpless concern until it ended. A minute later he slumped back against the sand mound, grateful beyond words that it kept him propped up so all he had to do was turn his head in Mihane's direction.

"You're saying that we should get me ready to deliver, is that it?"

The 9th seat nodded again, face still beet red.

"It's not a bad idea," Hisagi spoke up. "How long have you been having contractions?"

Byakuya frowned and his brow creased as he mentally reviewed the pain's progression to the best of his ability. "My back has been sore for about three days now… and I began to feel the first cramps not long after we arrived here."

"So more than twenty four hours. My knowledge of childbirth is virtually nil, but I do remember hearing once that male births can take between one and two days. I don't know how close together the contractions have to get or how we'll know the baby's ready to actually come out, but I think we'd be fools to assume we're going to be rescued in time for you to give birth at home."

Byakuya nodded, reluctant to agree but unable to delude himself into disagreeing. These contractions couldn't be any further than five minutes apart now and were almost a full minute in duration. He didn't know how close that brought him to actually delivering either, but he too was thinking that it would be far more likely he'd be having his child right here on the sands of Hueco Mundo than in a Fourth Division hospital room. It was not in any way a pleasant thought, but then again, nothing about the entire situation was pleasant.

"Won't he just feel like pushing?" Rikichi wondered aloud.

"I would think so, but I don't know how much of a nuisance it would be if we wait that long. If we set up for it now we won't have to worry about trying to do it later if things start happening really quickly. I don't really know how long this is supposed to take; if it's going to be some long, drawn out event or if the pains are the long part and the baby comes really fast, or…" Shuuhei trailed off, not really sure how to describe it and hoping the others, and Byakuya in particular, would understand.

The noble did. He had no idea how the entire child birthing event was supposed to go either, other than the general outline that the birthing parent would feel contractions for some time followed by repeated pushing and bearing down until the child emerged. Since none of them were healers, it made the most sense to prepare as best they could, and simply hope Mother Nature had preserved some kind of primitive instinct in some unknown corner of his mind that until now Byakuya had no reason to be aware of. Naturally he balked at the idea of sitting bare-assed and half naked in the sand in front of others, but the logical portion of his brain argued that if he was going to have this baby, he'd end up that way eventually anyway.

Part of him still fervently hoped it wouldn't come to that, but he knew it was far better to be safe than sorry.

Byakuya took a deep breath, actually wishing that he'd simply had indigestion instead before finally resigning himself to the inevitable. "If you would be so good as to advert your eyes, Shirogane-san?"

The lone female of the group turned away, and Hisagi and Rikichi helped him to his feet. He removed his obi and hakama, the latter being taken away by Rin to spread out near the mouth of the cave to dry. Hisagi then helped him fold the cloak and edges comfortably behind his mid-back so they could be draped over his lap while his bare bottom rested on the sand. He tried not to think of how uncomfortable that sand was going to be sticking to him later on when he had to get up again, but it was a lesser evil than the option of needlessly ruining his only dry garment. Well, only dry garment that would offer him suitable modesty. Of course one of the others could loan him theirs, but the soldier in him was loath to sacrifice their only source of camouflage if for some reason they were forced to leave the cave. With supplies limited and him about to give birth he had a feeling they'd also need all the—relatively—clean pieces of cloth they could get.

He gave the okay for Mihane to return just as the next contraction came.

"Aahhh!"

Shuuhei winced at the volume of the noble's voice as he cried out.

"If there's no more reason for anyone to go outside, I think it would be best to replace the sound barrier now."

The others nodded in agreement, and the fukutaichou stood, leaving them with the laboring taichou while he chanted the spell back into place.

As the barrier formed, Shuuhei couldn't help but frown as it seemed to be pulling more energy from him than he would have thought. Sure, it was a tricky and most definitely not effortless spell to cast, but he didn't expect it to tire him quite this much…

Further pondering was thrown to the wayside as Byakuya's reiatsu flared dangerously, even as the contraction itself seemed like it might be waning. Immediately, Shuuhei threw the entirety of his skills in the demon arts into supporting their shields, reinforcing them as the pressure in the cave intensified until he thought it might suffocate him. He could see the noble trying desperately to reel it in, even as he panted and strained to hold up his composure despite the considerable pain he was in. Unfortunately, until the contraction stopped stealing so much of his concentration and fortitude, he could do very little.

Shuuhei dug his heels in, locked his knees, and poured just a bit more of his own reiatsu into the air, sending it into a counter-spin against Byakuya's to try and cancel out as much of the rogue energies as he could. Once the taichou regained control of himself other measures could be discussed to prevent a repeat, so long as he kept enough pressure off their current shields so that they didn't collapse first. He was confident that although he wasn't exactly a match for Byakuya's strength, if he rated himself he'd be able to keep the taichou's reiatsu at bay long enough.

At least, he was until his own reiatsu inexplicably stuttered, dimmed and then completely died on him, snuffing out suddenly like a candle in the wind. The energies it had been buffering slammed into him full force, driving him to the ground as he shouted in disbelief and dismay as the barriers around the cave creaked ominously.

"No!"

Fortunately, it was not a second later that Byakuya came out of the grips of his contraction sufficiently to clamp down on his rogue reiatsu, and corral it firmly within him again.

"My apologies Hisagi Fukutaichou, everyone," Byakuya panted. "I've never simply lost control like that."

Shuuhei shook his head, shoving his fright at the sudden failing of his reiatsu back into the furthest corner of his mind possible. His first instinct was to root out a cause and determine if and how it could be fixed, but he suppressed it. Now was neither the time nor the place to be calling attention to it. Kuchiki Taichou needed him to be calm and supportive, not selfishly worrying about himself or freaking the others out by giving them the idea that both command level shinigami present were suffering health related distress. Though the incident had definitely freaked him out, he firmly reminded himself there wasn't any reason to believe something was wrong with him. Being stuck in a place with no food or even water was bound to cause anyone's reiatsu to diminish as the body was forced to consume its reserve stores. Being thus weakened and having to go head to head against rogue taichou-class reiatsu, he couldn't exactly blame his body for reaching its threshold and giving out. He just hadn't expected to reach that threshold so soon. But unless anything else happened, it wasn't worth dwelling on. Shuuhei was just glad he'd been able to hold out as long as he had. If his reiatsu had failed any sooner…

He shuddered, not wanting to go there. _'Get a hold of yourself. Everyone needs you, remember? You have to keep that promise to Renji.'_

Picking himself up off the ground, Shuuhei returned to Byakuya's side. The others were picking themselves up as well, and shaking both the sand and the shakiness from their limbs.

"Wha—what was that, Taichou?" Rikichi asked. "I thought people only get reiatsu flares when they have mood swings like you had earlier."

Byakuya leveled a glare at the younger man, bristling defensively. "What happened earlier was _not_ a mood swing. Anyone would be upset at being told they were unknowingly about to give birth in enemy territory."

Mihane held her hands up placatingly, hoping to put a stop to an argument before one could develop or the pregnant noble could be incensed into a real mood swing. "It doesn't matter what's causing them, obviously this last one proves they happen randomly. If I had to make a guess I'd say it's the contractions preventing you from concentrating enough to keep your reiatsu in check, Taichou."

"I'd agree," Rin nodded. "Reiatsu plays a huge part in allowing a male shinigami to get pregnant and give birth. I think it's likely only going to get worse as you get closer to delivering the baby."

Byakuya gave a frustrated sigh. "We can't risk it. Hisagi Fukutaichou was barely able to keep my reiatsu contained long enough to spare the shields and the rest of you don't have enough power to take his place. Especially since we have no way to replace our energy stores."

Shuuhei bit his tongue and refrained from giving voice to the niggling concern that it hadn't felt like Byakuya's power or reiatsu exhaustion necessarily had anything to do with his reiatsu failing just then.

"We'll simply have to bind my powers so they can't get loose again."

There was a collective gasp from the shinigami around him. Shuuhei stared at Byakuya incredulously.

"But… if we bind your powers, you'll be helpless! Even with the contractions you could still—"

"Still what? Try to warn an enemy off? A hollow would know I couldn't fight and would just wait for the right opening, and to an arrancar or one of the traitors it would be a very obvious empty threat. The only way to ensure I don't ruin our cover is to bind my reiatsu," Byakuya insisted, staring back at Hisagi expectantly. "I already told you I am useless to you if we are drawn into battle. This hardly changes that."

The fukutaichou looked distinctly uncomfortable, but after a moment he sighed resignedly and took a hold of the noble's wrists, setting the strongest binding kidou he knew in place. "I just hope this doesn't adversely affect you or the baby."

Byakuya nodded. "Me too."

"So now what?" Rin asked.

"Since we don't need to keep watch at the entrance someone should keep close to Kuchiki Taichou at all times as a precaution," Rikichi suggested. Byakuya wasn't thrilled at the idea of being constantly observed, but refrained from protesting. Had it been one of the others he would have said the same thing.

Shuuhei nodded. "Good idea. In the meantime we should all try to rest up as much as we can, and every hour or so try and contact the Seiretei."

"That's it?" Rin asked.

Byakuya huffed unhappily, feeling another contraction building and no longer caring as much if he sounded undignified. "He's right. With no medical equipment and only minimal knowledge about how childbirth is supposed to go, all we can do at this point is wait."

Rikichi dropped his chin into his palm and sighed. "This is going to be one very long night. And I don't mean it because we're in Hueco Mundo."

No one could argue with that, as Byakuya curled around his stomach again, crying out in earsplitting pain.

**~*~Twelfth Division~*~**

Akon slumped over the computer consol, chin held propped up by his elbow as he glared balefully at the screen in front of him. Line after line of coding scrolled across it at dizzying speeds as the diagnostic program went through each and every one in an attempt to find and repair the damage wrought by the virus that Fifth Division traitor infected their communications system with. At the consol next to him, Hiyosu was trying to coax the emergency shields to come down so they could restore inter-world travel. The Twelfth Division scientist wasn't what he would consider a humanitarian, but the potential number of souls that could be lost to the cleaners or eaten by hollows because they couldn't be konso-ed made him cringe.

Honestly, he snorted to himself with disgust. Could Aizen's little minion have made his job any more obnoxious?

That stupid virus had sent the system into a perpetual loop where every time they gave the command to reopen communications, the computer would interpret the restart as a system malfunction and shut down again to preserve itself from what it believed would be irreparable program damage.

He growled agitatedly and pushed his chair back so he could get up and stretch. It was late, almost midnight, and he hadn't slept in two days. For now his diagnostic program would root out all corrupted lines of code that needed to be restored to their original form, while simultaneously isolating and quarantining all alien coding representing the virus itself. Too tired to even see straight anymore, it was time to take advantage of the wait ahead and grab some dinner and shut-eye so that when the program was finished he'd actually be able to complete his work without passing out on top of his keyboard.

"Oi! Hiroto!" he called to one of the young techs. The young man left the consol he was working at and came quickly to Akon's side. "I'm going to go get some sleep for a few hours. Stay here and make sure nothing interrupts my diagnostic programs, and send someone to get me if anything shows up in that virus that'll mess with them. If communications come back online send word immediately to myself, Kurotsuchi Taichou and Yamamoto Soutaichou. Also, begin contacting everyone who got locked out of the Seiretei, starting with Hitsugaya Taichou's Karakura unit and Kuchiki Taichou's Hueco Mundo recon group. We want to make sure Aizen hasn't made a move against us while we were cut off from the other worlds."

"Yes sir," Hiroto nodded, and took up Akon's place while the senior researcher bid farewell to his remaining cohorts.

"Lucky bastard," Hiyosu grouched. "Wish I could just take off like that." Unlike Akon's diagnostics program, his job of trying to bring down the shields and reactivate the central senkaimon required him to actually be at the computer typing in commands, which meant he had at least several more hours before someone would be by to spell him.

Hiroto nodded in acknowledgment but didn't comment.

The next hour was a significantly boring one. Hiroto yawned, eyelids drooping as his body tried to convince him it was way past the hour decent folks would be asleep. A sudden crackling startled him as a burst of static came through the speakers, followed by Hitsugaya Toushiro's broken, agitated voice.

"…_Hello? Ca… yone… hear m…? Seirete… ou copy?"_

"Yes!" Hiroto exclaimed into the microphone. Next to him Hiyosu paused in his work to summon several hell butterflies. "You're breaking up some but we can hear you!"

"_Finally," _the young taichou sounded extremely relieved. _"The Karakura unit's been fending off repeated arrancar attacks since communications were shut down. We've managed to repel them successfully, and it seems that no more are forthcoming at this time. It seems like more attempts by Aizen to harass us as opposed to a serious assault."_

"Casualties?" Hiroto questioned.

"_Fortunately none for our side, but the sooner that relief team can get here the better. My men are all exhausted."_

"We're doing everything we can to reopen the senkaimon. As soon as it's restored we'll inform you," Hiroto said. His heart went out to those on the front lines and he wished he could tell the taichou that he and his men could come back immediately, but he wasn't of high enough rank that he could authorize it.

"_I appreciate that,"_ Hitsugaya thanked him, voice indicating that he had every intention of pleading his case to Yamamoto as soon as possible. _"Karakura unit out."_

"Sounds like Aizen wasn't just wreaking havoc on the Seiretei's end of things," Akon said as he re-entered the room.

"Indeed not," Hiyosu agreed. "Try raising Kuchiki Taichou. Hopefully he and his men have fared better staying out of Aizen's sight. The last thing we need is to lose another taichou right now."

"Yes sir."

**~*~Hueco Mundo~*~**

One of the most disconcerting things, Shuuhei was finding, wasn't the fact that the normally stoic and seemingly emotionless Kuchiki Byakuya had been reduced to openly crying and frequently moaning or shouting in pain. No, what was _really _disconcerting was the fact that it had been going on for so long that his companions were getting _used_ to it.

It was approaching midnight, which meant that their group had been forced to stand by and listen to the poor taichou scream for over seven hours. At the moment they were about halfway in between contractions, and Byakuya was resting rather bonelessly against the mound of sand.

Shuuhei wouldn't lie to himself; the noble looked horrible. At the moment his head was lolled to the side, heedless of the fact that he was getting sand in his hair and in the kenseikan, and his eyes were closed. He was panting as though he'd run a marathon, and his face was flushed and sweaty. A few hours before he'd begun to feel overheated, so his shitagi and kosode had initially been opened to allow the air to help cool him down, but were later discarded along with his windflower silk scarf and captain's haori as they were becoming sweat-soaked and uncomfortable. Now the only thing still covering him was the cloak draped across his waist.

He desperately wished they could give Byakuya something, anything, to help dull the terrific pain he was in, but to no avail. As the minutes turned into hours and the contractions continued their relentless assault, the fukutaichou found himself becoming not only concerned, but increasingly _angry_.

Where the _hell_ was Soul Society? What pray tell could possibly be keeping them so that word hadn't even been sent to inform them of the status of things on the home front? If Aizen had won, had somehow conquered the Gotei, would he not have looked through their mission records and sent a contingent out to round up any stray taichou or fukutaichou that remained unaccounted for? And being that there had been _no_ indication of anyone looking for them, Shuuhei had to assume it was because no one _was_ looking for them. Therefore, logically, the Seiretei had to have won. And if they had won, then they should have at least been in contact to account for the delay in bringing their stranded shinigami home. It was going on three days now, so where the _hell_ were they?

He felt sick to his stomach and helpless as Byakuya cried out, too tired to move any more than his head as he attempted to sit up and failed.

Mihane and Rikichi had practically glued themselves to the laboring shinigami's side, unwilling to leave their taichou for even a moment. Rin sat off a little to the side, looking much like Shuuhei felt—horrified and afraid. Shuuhei found himself pacing repeatedly—not something he'd usually do but it was the only thing that would allow him to work off the restless frustration that had been building. Byakuya's distress was difficult enough to deal with, but the fukutaichou had another concern as well, one he was determined not to burden his companions with.

Seven hours after the failed attempt to confine Byakuya's reiatsu flare, his reiatsu still felt… _drained_, he guessed was the best way to put it. Everyone in that cave was tired, Byakuya especially, but Shuuhei'd been in field situations before where he'd had to work days on end with little nourishment and rest, and never had his reiatsu felt so diminished, so… remote. Like something was hoarding it, pulling it so deep within him he couldn't access it even though it was there.

It was strange and frightening, and he had absolutely no idea what could be causing it.

And with Kuchiki Taichou about to deliver any moment for all he knew, it couldn't be happening at a worse time. This team was managing to hold up beyond what he ever would have expected, if someone had asked him to hypothetically predict how any group would cope in a situation like this one. But he wasn't going to test the limits of their coping skills by informing them that the health of the only other command level shinigami of the group was also potentially deteriorating.

Shuuhei shook his head and strengthened his resolve. He couldn't worry about himself right now. Too many people were counting on him. This team needed him to take command if Byakuya deteriorated too much to lead them any more. Byakuya needed him to be strong so the taichou could rest assured that the situation and their teammates were taken care of, so he could focus on himself and his child. Back in the Seiretei, Renji—and by extension the Sixth—needed him to bring their taichou home alive. The Gotei needed him to see to it that they didn't loose another captain. And both his own Division and Izuru needed him to keep it together and get back in one piece, because neither was strong enough to take another loss right now. If he were to fall, both would be devastated—each for their own reasons—and he couldn't bear to do that to either of them.

The chirping of a soul phone brought him abruptly out of his musings.

**~*~Twelfth Division~*~**

Hiroto tapped his finger impatiently as the ringing sound continued, but no one answered.

"C'mon. Where are you?"

Hiyosu and Akon looked on silently, waiting with bated breath, hoping the phone wouldn't go to voicemail. If it did, it wasn't a good sign. The phone should have been tucked right inside the taichou's obi, where it could be easily heard and accessed. If Kuchiki Taichou wasn't answering, it could mean anything from inconvenient such as him having dropped it, to something as serious as him having been killed or captured and separated from it.

Their fears abated somewhat as the ringing abruptly cut out and a voice that was not Kuchiki Byakuya said, _"Hello?"_

"This is Hiroto of Squad Twelve. Who is this?"

"_This is Hisagi Shuuhei, Fukutaichou of Squad Nine. Kuchiki Taichou is… incapacitated at the moment."_

Hiroto exchanged a grave look with his superiors. "Status?"

"_We're holed up in a cave in an outcropping 2.5 kilometers west of our original entry point. Tsubokura Rin of your squad, Shirogane Mihane and Rikichi of Squad Six, and… myself are all fine, apart from reiatsu fatigue due to lack of food and water."_

"…And Kuchiki Taichou?" Hiroto's ears perked and his concern roused itself again at the fukutaichou's blatant exclusion of the Division Six taichou from his report.

There was a momentary pause, before the Twelfth Division scientists all froze in dismay as a scream could be heard in the background. Faintly, they could hear a woman's voice saying,

"_I know Taichou, I know. Take a deep breath…" _Another agonized cry drowned her out for a moment before her angry, frightened _"Hisagi Fukutaichou, what the _HELL_ is keeping them?"_ followed.

"_Please Mihane, I'll ask, just keep talking to him," _Hisagi answered her, before he came back on the line again.

"_Look, I don't want to waste time explaining this. Kuchiki Taichou's in trouble, and I need you to get Unohana Taichou on the line ASAP so she can tell us what to do to keep him stabilized until we can get him home. This is beyond our knowledge of field treatments."_

"We'll send her a butterfly right away," Hiroto said, noticing Akon already sending one winging off at top speed.

"_Good. In the meantime, what's the status of things in the Seiretei? Why is it the senkaimon is still not functioning, and how long will it be until we can return?"_

"We caught the traitor who let the arrancar in, but found that he introduced a virus into the system that has made it so we cannot get the communication systems back online nor can we let down the shields to restore inter-world travel. Obviously we seem to have gotten communications back, but the senkaimon itself still won't reactivate."

Hisagi growled. Hiroto felt his heart go out again. This was even worse than the report from Karakura! At least that unit was intact and everyone okay. But from the sounds of it, something horrible had happened in Hueco Mundo, and the Gotei could ill afford to loose another Taichou right now.

"What happened to Kuchiki Taichou?" he asked. "Were you attacked?"

"_We did suffer an attack that destroyed Tsubokura's survey equipment, but Kuchiki Taichou's condition existed prior to our departure for the mission. He wasn't aware of it and it… has exacerbated over the last few days."_

"What was the status of your mission prior to taking shelter? Did you achieve your objective?"

"_Negative. We were unable to locate the replicating hollow that attacked the Squad Nine unit."_

Another scream could be heard in the background. _"Squad Twelve where is Unohana Taichou?"_

"We sent her a hell butterfly already. She should be here any minute."

"_If she can't be found then try Kotetsu Fukutaichou. If neither of them can be reached then try Kira Fukutaichou. He may be in Division Three now, but he used to be in Squad Four. This situation is rather… delicate, so I'd like it kept strictly among the command ranks unless Unohana Taichou cites someone else specifically."_

The three Twelfth Division scientists looked at each other in confusion. Akon and Hiyosu both shrugged, and Hiroto responded,

"Okay Hisagi Fukutaichou. We'll take your word for it and try to contact those individuals first."

"_Thank you," _there was an element of relief to fukutaichou's voice, as in the distance another scream, accompanied by the words _"Just breathe, Taichou!" _could be heard.

"I really hope Unohana Taichou gets here soon," Hiyosu remarked, making sure to keep his voice low so Hisagi couldn't hear him and demand the room was cleared when the healer arrived. "I'd sure like to know what all this is about."

"Indeed," Akon said, just as softly. The Fourth Division Taichou would most certainly kick them all out if she believed patient confidentiality was at risk, but if they played their cards right and remained inconspicuous enough, perhaps they would be able to remain so their curiosity could be sated.

**~*~Sixth Division~*~**

Renji sighed with relief as he closed the office door and locked it behind him. Grimacing, he flexed the aching fingers of his right hand.

No wonder Byakuya's behavior and attitude had taken a turn for the worse; if that was the kind of workload he'd had to field day in and day out by himself. Be that the case, then Renji had to give him credit for not going completely insane. He himself would have been driven absolutely batshit spending seven months cooped up with nothing but mound after neverending mound of forms and reports and whatnot.

'_When he gets back I'm kissing him senseless, dragging him off to bed, massaging out all that tension until he melts, and having my wicked way with him until he's too sated to be crabby at anything. Most likely that's all he really needs. Anything else that's bugging him can be dealt with over pillow talk.'_

Instead of setting out towards home, the redhead took a detour over to the Fourth Division offices. _'It's still early enough to make that appointment, and if I know Byakuya, he's not going to be too pleased if we start back where we left off on our relationship and I keep bucking him on the whole birth control thing. I only got away with it last time because we weren't sure we'd last long enough to be worth going on it. Now the only way I'll get out of it is if it hurts me as badly as it did Shuuhei—which I'd rather not go through—or if Taichou decides he never wants to take me again—which is very unlikely.'_

He sighed. _'Oh well. I guess there's worse things I could do for love.' _

Renji stepped inside the reception area and was surprised to see Izuru waiting near the counter. "Hey! Seems like we're just determined to keep running into each other today."

Izuru smiled. "Yes it does. I was just picking up my prescription. What are you here for? You don't look like kidou practice got the better of you this time."

"Ha ha. Nope, I'm here to make an appointment like I said I was going to earlier."

The blonde nodded. "I remember."

"Is Unohana Taichou around?" Renji asked the unseated shinigami sitting at the reception desk.

"She and Kotetsu Fukutaichou are still at the Academy. You could wait if you like, but it might be more convenient to just make an appointment for tomorrow," the young man replied.

"I guess that would work," Renji shrugged. "What times do you have open?"

At that moment the doors opened again, admitting a tired-looking Isane and the always serene Unohana.

"Or I could just ask the lady herself," Renji smiled. "Thanks anyway."

"Abarai Fukutaichou. It's nice to see you've returned from the Living World," Unohana greeted, coming over to him and Izuru. "I assume this visit has something to do with you listening in on my lecture today."

Renji nodded. "Yea. I started seeing someone for a short while before I was deployed, and since we plan to continue on from where we left off I promised not to also continue tempting Fate."

The healer opened her mouth to say something, but was forestalled by the small black blur that came shooting into the room like a missile.

How the butterfly managed to brake without slamming antennae-first into Unohana's collarbone, Renji couldn't say, but it was obvious by its behavior and the concerned look on her face that its message wasn't a good one. He wasn't sure why, but he suddenly got a cold, dreadful feeling in his gut that it had something to do with one of the teams trapped in either the Living World, or Kami forbid, Hueco Mundo. He hoped he was wrong. Next to him, Izuru's expression was grim and his posture tense and frozen. Obviously he was worrying for Shuuhei.

"Unohana Taichou?" Isane queried.

"I need to get down to the Twelfth Division."

"What happened?"

"They've gotten in touch with Kuchiki Taichou's group. Something's wrong with him, and the others need instructions so they can care for him until the senkaimon is restored."

Renji's breath seized in his throat. He tried to speak, tried to ask her if the message had told her what specifically had happened to him, tried to ask her if he could follow her to find out more, tried to ask if the others were okay, but he found he could do none of that. Instead all he could do was stand there like a statue, wishing somehow that he'd wake up and this would all go away and he'd find out that Byakuya was just fine and coming home.

It was Izuru who spoke for him. "Unohana Taichou, may Renji and I come along? I think it would be best if Kuchiki Taichou's fukutaichou was kept in the loop and I would like to reassure myself that Hisagi Fukutaichou is well."

The healer paused and seemed to weight the decision momentarily before she nodded. "It would save us the trouble of briefing you later. However, should Kuchiki Taichou wish the details of the situation kept private I will have to ask you to leave, and I expect you to comply."

"Of course."

"Then come quickly. The message said to make all haste."

Renji felt a hand close around his wrist, and the next thing he knew he was being pulled along at top shunpo speed. The trip over to the Twelfth seemed to take both forever and yet no time at all, and he suddenly found himself entering a room filled with large screens and computer consoles. Unohana Taichou made a beeline for the three shinigami in lab coats that had gathered around one console in particular. There was no one else in the room and Renji assumed anyone else had been told to leave to respect Byakuya's privacy. Though it seemed a bit strange that they took such measures. Usually injuries sustained in the field weren't kept secret unless a mission was jeopardized by the knowledge an individual had been incapacitated.

"Gentlemen," Unohana greeted as she approached them.

The youth sitting at the console started, hand coming down on the keyboard in front of him as he pushed himself halfway out of his seat before realizing there was no reason to get jumpy. His companions snickered briefly at him, as he sat back down and leaned forward to speak into the microphone in front of him.

"She's here, Hisagi Fukutaichou."

"_Thank Kami," _was Shuuhei's reply, his voice displaying obvious stress.

"She's brought Kira Fukutaichou and Abarai Fukutaichou with her."

"_What? Why are they there?"_

"Because we were worried and wanted to know what's going on," Izuru said, stepping close enough that the microphone could pick up his voice.

"Please, Hisagi Fukutaichou, state the nature of Kuchiki Taichou's condition. I can't help you if the conversation is allowed to get off topic. The message I received indicated Kuchiki Taichou was in serious medical trouble," Unohana stepped in, eager to cut to the chase and make certain the patient wasn't neglected.

"_Kuchiki Taichou's… um, hold on one second," _Shuuhei's voice faded a bit ashe seemed to be holding the phone away from him, but those listening on the Seiretei end of the connection distinctly heard him ask, _"Kuchiki Taichou, what do you want me to tell her? Kira and your fukutaichou came with her. Do you mind if they find out now, or do you want her to kick everyone out of the room so we can talk to her in private?"_

Izuru and Renji exchanged confused looks.

"_What's going on?"_ Renji mouthed.

Akon and Hiyosu shrugged and shook their heads. _"No idea,"_ Akon mouthed back.

On the other end of the line they could faintly hear Byakuya start to answer, but it was cut off by a scream of obvious agony.

Renji started, heart turning to ice to hear such a cry coming from _his_ captain. Never had he ever heard the stoic man ever make such a sound, not even when Shinsou had stabbed him directly through the heart! To hear Byakuya's voice so distorted by pain was wrong on so many levels, and Renji had to clench his fists and restrain himself from tearing out of the room and _forcing _the damned senkaimon gates open. Zabimaru might not appreciate it, but for all the hell the zanpakutou gave him it could put up with being substituted for a crowbar this one time. 

"_Oh, forget who's there! Just ask her what to do!"_

"_Forget who's there? Shirogane-san, if we wanted this to be gossiped all over the Seiretei we would have asked them to summon the SWA, not the Fourth!"_

"_How rude! The Shinigami Women's Association would never be so disrespectful of a Gotei 13 taichou."_

"_Oh, so breaking into Kuchiki Taichou's manor, using it without his permission for meetings, and pinning Ukitake Taichou to a tree and shredding his shihakushou is how you show respect?"_

"_Shut up, both of you! Kuchiki Taichou, before the next one hits, please answer my question."_

"_They… may stay. At least then Abarai won't have to wonder why I might kill him after we return." _

"_Sorry Unohana Taichou, we—" _Shuuhei's voice suddenly drifted away from the phone again. "_Kuchiki Taichou please try to remember that we need him to help fight Aizen's forces and you need him to run the Sixth for you while you recover. Killing Renji just means having to do paperwork while on medical leave."_

"_And Taichou, if you kill him… where am I going to find a replacement mentor? And won't your mood swings have stopped by then?"_

"_He had it coming, and I doubt you'll miss him that much when our kidou range no longer has to be closed 90% of the time because he can't go one week without destroying it—Ahhh!"_

"_Oh Kami! Is it time?"_

"_It was 'time' three days ago, Hisagi Fukutaichou. Either ask Unohana how to get this thing out _now_, or just put me out of my misery already!"_

"_Taichou! Take it easy, okay? Just breathe."_

"_I am breathing, dammit! Do I look like I'm suffocating to you? Don't let Abarai rub off on you so much, Rikichi."_

"_Kuchiki Taichou, why is it you're so angry with Renji? He's not even here."_

"_He earned it, Shirogane-san, that's all you need to know. He earned it."_

"_We'll… take your word for it," _Hisagi's voice seemed to come closer to the receiver again. Renji hoped he would start talking to them again so they could finally be told what the hell this was all about. The fukutaichou was completely lost and bewildered, and a glance at his companions confirmed he wasn't the only one.

"_Good. Now, before this _thing_ splits me in half—Ahhaahhh!"_

"Hisagi Fukutaichou! Explain the situation now!" Unohana demanded into the microphone, running out of patience with the delay and frustrated at being forced into the role of helpless bystander. Unfortunately, Shuuhei seemed not to have heard her, or he was preoccupied by whatever was going on with Byakuya, because he never answered.

"_I think they're getting worse!"_

"_No shit they're getting worse, Hisagi Fukutaichou! Drop the phone, we need another pair of hands."_

"_Why? I'm trying to talk to Unohana!"_

"_Because—OW! Taichou letgoletgoletgo! Shit he just broke my hand!"_

"_My apologies, Shirogane-sa—aaah!"_

"_Why can't Rin help you?"_

"_I… I don't like blood."_

"_What?" _

"_I told you," _the people on the Seiretei end could actually hear Rin gulp, _"there was a reason I never joined the biology division."_

"_Fine! Then you talk to Unohana, and I'll try to do… something. Kami this was not in my job description." _

"_Ahh! …Mine either."_

"_I hope you don't take offense to this, Kuchiki Taichou, but let me point out that it _became_ your job description when you chose not to keep your legs closed! Now pretend for a moment you're not trying to keep up appearances, and help me out here!"_

"_Well excuse me! This wasn't exactly covered by any of my tutors while I was growing up!"_

"_Oye… Rin, take the phone and ask Unohana to coach us through this. Damn, I hope we didn't loose the call."_

"_Um, hello?" _

"I hope you're going to give me the explanation I've been waiting for, Rin," Unohana said, voice low and annoyance obvious.

"_Um, yea. You see, Kuchiki Taichou started acting funny while we were looking for that hollow. Then when we took shelter he looked really uncomfortable and kept having to use the bathroom often, so we thought maybe he had food poisoning or indigestion. But when I was using my research equipment to search for the hollow while we were in hiding, I put a monitor on us just in case he had something else that might be contagious. I thought my equipment was broken because I was picking up an extra set of vital signs and—"_

"_Rin, get to the point already!"_

"I am!" he called to Shuuhei, before resuming his narrative to Unohana. _"Anyway, we tried to leave him alone because he asked us to, but he started having stomach pains and he finally told us he didn't know what was wrong but that he was hurting too much and too weak to help us if we got drawn into battle—though he didn't do too badly when a hollow got into our hideout and ruined my survey module—but then Hisagi Fukutaichou started asking about Kuchiki Taichou's symptoms from the last few months, and said that if you added the old ones with the new ones, it looked like Kuchiki Taichou was pre—" _

Whatever else he had to say was cut off, and Akon cursed and shoved Hiroto away from the console, taking his place and beginning to type furiously.

"Dammit no! The virus is attacking the system again! It must have attached itself to another program and automatically reinstalled when that program got turned on."

"But we haven't turned any additional programs on," Hiyosu said.

Akon pulled up a list of the programs that were currently running. One in particular caught his eye.

"This one," he pointed to it, as the others gathered around to look. "This one's the only one opened since Hitsugaya Taichou contacted us."

Renji groaned.

The broadcast system. That whole conversation had just been played over the loudspeakers for the entirety of the Seiretei to hear. If Byakuya—no, _when_ Byakuya—got home and found out… Renji shuddered. He didn't know what exactly Byakuya would do, but the fukutaichou would definitely be walking on eggshells around him for the next few weeks, at least.

"How'd it get turned on?" Izuru asked.

"My guess is when you came in and Hiroto got startled. His hand hit the keyboard, and he probably hit the command to turn the system on, triggering the virus to reinstall and start infecting the system again."

"Great. So that means we can't call them back, huh?"

"Sorry Abarai Fukutaichou, but no. I have to start flushing out the system again from scratch."

Renji growled and whirled, stalking out of the room. "As the Squad Six fukutaichou, I expect to be informed the _second_ you get them back on the line again!" he called over his shoulder.

Unohana and Izuru exchanged concerned looks.

"I'll go make sure he keeps his cool," Izuru said, striding hastily after his friend.

"My apologies that the call got disconnected before you could help them, Unohana Taichou."

"Iie, Akon-san. Obviously it was a stressful and overwhelming situation for them, but I wish they had stopped letting themselves become distracted and given me the full details earlier," her eyes cast themselves downward sadly.

"Any ideas what could be ailing him?"

"Yes, but I cannot speak of them to any but Soutaichou until I actually examine Kuchiki Taichou and get his permission to disclose the details of his health to others."

"Fair enough," Hiyosu shrugged back at his own console, once again fighting with the shields.

"You will of course inform me as soon as the gateway is restored so I can send a team to retrieve them," though her tone was light, the two could tell it wasn't a mere request.

Akon nodded. "Of course, Unohana Taichou."

A hell butterfly came fluttering into the room and approached the healer.

"_Unohana Taichou," _Soutaichou's rough voice spoke. _"Please come to my office _immediately_."_

**~*~TBC…~*~**

**A/N****: Okay… I had more to write, but it's going to go into the next chapter. This sucker's already 20 pages long, and I really just want it posted. Again, I'll give it another edit tomorrow night, err—tonight, actually. Damn, I stayed up the whole night finishing this. Anyway, to those of you who left me PMs and reviews—I haven't forgotten you, but you'll have to wait another day because I do have to get at least a little sleep. So if you want to read your review responses, check back tomorrow. I'll repost the chapter with the review responses added then. This tired little writer does need at least the hour and a half of sleep she has left before my alarm goes off.**

**Thank you to all the people who have let me know their thoughts. Please, keep reviewing! **

**(Edit 4/25/11)**

**Unsigned Review Responses****- (RL didn't seem to want me to get around to these, but here they are at last. ^_^)**

**Random anonymous reviewer****- **Well, several chapters later I hope the confusion's cleared up regarding why it was Hisagi automatically assumed earlier that Byakuya was seeing a guy, lol. And I agree, I missed Renji too, though I didn't realize how much until I wrote that chapter. But he won't be neglected from now on, so he's happy. Well, at least for now. The nature of his and Byakuya's reunion remains to be seen, so him not getting pregnant this time around might only be a small comfort when he suddenly finds sleep and freedom from diaper duty a rarity, lol! And thanks for pointing out that typo! I try really hard to root out any mistakes, but they're pesky little things and sometimes not matter how much I edit they still sneak past me. Even this chapter I found several missing words or bad sentences while I was going back over it again. So thanks for having a sharp eye!

**Katz****- **Yay! I'm glad you're enjoying the long chapters. Personally, I love long chapters too, but I had a beta reader in another fandom who used to caution me against them because she supposedly lost readers if her chapters were too long, or people complained to her, or something along those lines. Anyway, I tried to find the happy medium where I could write my long chapters, but also have a point at which I knew to start wrapping it up. Usually I try for around ten pages, but for some reason that I've ceased trying to figure out, this fic's determined to have chapters that go way past that, lol. Whatever. ^_^U And ya, Izuru and Shuuhei have taken on a squee factor even for me, haha. I don't know how that happened, but they're so darn cute together even in the anime, it's not hard to imagine them being that sweetheart couple. *grin* As for the Kuchiki elders… ho boy. Interesting times ahead, we'll leave it at.

A couple of people have commented about the birth control thing. Fact is, even though people mention condoms sometimes in their fics (which are a form of birth control) they never mention much else in the way of contraceptives. This always struck me as odd, just because it's plain logic that if you can have offspring but opt not to, it's a necessary thing. It doesn't have to be a major plot point or anything, but still… *shrugs* I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with the stuff. I know I mentioned this in a PM response to someone, but actually it was a fellow author in the Gundam Wing fandom who inspired the idea for Shuuhei's troubles. Sadly one of her fics that I was enjoying very much got abandoned for several years because of the severity of side-effects she suffered. (I'm happy to say that in recent months she has taken up writing again.) And I'm laughing too at Renji's procrastination. He thought he was safe because of the low probability and how short a time he and Byakuya were together, tehee. Think again love.

It's actually you I have to thank for the phone call thing, Lol. You mentioned in your Chapter 5 review that it would be hilarious if they got communications back and the person calling them having to listen to Byakuya scream and people telling him to push. I couldn't have him be at that stage of labor yet, because it would make a later scene that I'm planning impossible, but I hope this made up for it. ^_^ LOL, it's funny you should mention Gin, because to an extent I was kinda channeling him while writing out the mpreg explanation. Even though I was writing Unohana, in my head I kept seeing Gin and his pointer doing a special Shinigami Edition Daihenka.

**Irritatedbookworm****- **I'm really interested to hear about this scene you imagined from the story's first version, if you're willing to share. ^_^ Actually the ideas that don't get used in this plotbunny I'm planning to shift over to other bunnies (why throw out a good idea, ne?). I don't know if you're planning to write any of them out yourself, but I totally don't mind people sending bunnies my way. It might take me a little while to get them into the WIP lineup, but they will get there. So if you want feel free to send 'em over and I'll see what I can do with them so they stop nagging you, lol. Or if you choose to write them yourself, please, let me know when you start posting!

I'm going to post my response to your question regarding Aizen and Central 46 to my profile, and move my older character study for Ichigo and Co. to my Livejournal, since this new set of ramblings got to be quite long. If ever you still need to reference it, just click on the link and look up the April 26th post, or search my character studies or bleach tags. Although, in the interest of getting the next chapter finished I'll only be getting the Aizen half posted at the moment. The C46 half is going to take much more research and I'd like to at least do it justice.

I do remember who got hollowfied and their Gotei 13 post, but I'll go back and read the article again to see if I pick up on the same thought patterns. (It's been so long since I read it I don't remember much, aka too long, lol)

LOL! I haven't gotten to read those stories yet, but thanks for the warning!

I can't wait to hear more from you! Your questions really keep me expanding and developing my ideas for this fandom, thanks a bunch!


	9. Chapter 8

**What to Expect When You're Not Expecting**

**Author****: WhipOfLightHeartOfSword**

**Rating****: M/R**

**World****: Semi-AU, Orihime wasn't captured and the Fake Karakura Town arc didn't happen. The Winter War continues. **

**Pairings****: Renji/Byakuya, Izuru/Shuuhei (more to be announced)**

**Feedback****: Yes please, but no flames.**

**Warnings****: Mpreg, Yaoi, childbirth, medical themes**

**Disclaimer****: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, Shonen Jump, etc., not me. This is a not-for-profit fanwork. **

**(For full warnings/disclaimers please see Chapter 1.)**

**A/N****: Well after another crazy two weeks, and dealing with one obnoxiously distracted muse, I give you the next chapter! *does happy dance* For those of you who gave anonymous reviews last chapter, your responses have been added to the end of Chapter 7, in case you haven't checked. And you'll all be happy to know that I have a lovely three-day-vacation, plus no kyudo practice this Saturday, which means that we can look forward to at least one more post this week providing the muse cooperates. Either for this story, or the debut of one of the up-and-coming bunnies listed on my profile. I already have one vote for the Kensei/Shuuhei fic to be posted, but don't hesitate to poke the muse if one in particular strikes your fancy that you want to read next. **

**~*~Chapter 8 ~*~**

Well, Mihane's hand was most definitely broken.

Shuuhei cursed softly as he took it gingerly in his own, turning it about and gently pressing here and there to ascern the extent of the damage. Behind him Rin was chattering away to Unohana, and taking far too long to get to the point for his liking, which the fukutaichou didn't hesitate to make absolutely clear.

"Rin, get to the point already!"

"I am!" the scientist snapped back, before returning to his verbal report. Shuuhei growled with irritation but paid him no further mind as he made sure the fractures were set and tore the hem off his cloak to wrap the limb.

"We really should use a healing kidou to jumpstart the knitting process. I'm not an expert at this, but I'll give it a go," he said. Mihane nodded, holding still as Shuuhei laid the hand across her lap and allowed the green light of the healing kidou to envelope his hands. It was a great disappointment to him when, not 30 seconds later, the spell sputtered and died. Try as he might Shuuhei could not get it to restart. His reiatsu remained stubbornly unresponsive, just like earlier.

Disturbed that his reiatsu still wasn't replenishing itself, but unwilling to alarm anyone, Shuuhei sought to downplay it. "I'm afraid after going up against Kuchiki Taichou's last reiatsu flare, mine's still not recovered yet."

"Don't strain yourself. We need you to rest up so you can protect us. I'll live," Mihane assured him, though he could see in her eyes she wasn't convinced. A part of the fukutaichou was slightly put off at being held under suspicion, but he knew he shouldn't be surprised. After failing to recognize Kuchiki Taichou's condition for months when the clues were sitting right there under everyone's noses, combined with the current mess they now found themselves in, it shouldn't be any wonder that her suspicions were up. Hell, everyone's were, as the last thing they needed was to overlook something else that could come back and bite them in the ass, though Shuuhei doubted anything could top the bombshell that an unknowingly pregnant taichou had gone into labor while trapped in enemy territory.

But it still wasn't helping his efforts not to burden them with any more worries.

"I could try, but you'd have to come over here," Rikichi offered from where he sat on Byakuya's other side. "I don't want to leave Taichou."

Byakuya, who lay panting between contractions, opened one stress-lined grey eye. "Don't be silly, go heal her. You're only going a few feet away. If I need anything it'll take you less than a second to get back over here."

Rikichi blushed at having overlooked the obvious and simply nodded and stood, skirting around the captain to take Shuuhei's place. As he stood and moved aside, the tattooed shinigami glanced over at the fifth member of the team.

Rin was still chattering away rapidly at Unohana. Frowning, Shuuhei wondered when she was going to finally cut him off and start giving them instructions. He would have thought that would have happened already, as he'd mentioned several sentences ago that they had suspected Byakuya was pregnant and had confirmed it with one of Shuuhei's pregnancy tests. He was just opening his mouth to remind Rin to let the healer get a word in edgewise, when the small shinigami paused and pulled the phone away from his ear to stare at it uncertainly.

"Uh, hello? Unohana Taichou? Can you hear me?"

Shuuhei felt his blood run cold. _'Oh, please don't tell me…'_

"Aww, no!" Rin exclaimed, as he took a closer look at the screen. "The signal's out again. We've lost contact with the Seiretei."

"What?" Mihane barely managed to keep from jerking her hand and disrupting Rikichi as she started.

It might not have mattered, as Rikichi dropped the kidou anyway so he could growl angrily at Rin. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know!" the little scientist cowered under Rikichi's suddenly burning gaze. "I don't even know when the call got cut off."

"Oh that's great! Here we are, trying to keep our taichou from dying in fucking childbed, and the Seiretei doesn't even know the kind of trouble he's in? We needed her help, dammit! Why the hell couldn't you have told her we discovered Kuchiki Taichou was knocked up _first_, and _then _explained how we came to that conclusion afterwards?"

Though he stood several feet away and out of the irate Sixth Divisioner's immediate reach, Rin seemed to shrink right before them, tears shining in his eyes.

"I—I'm _sorry_. I didn't think she'd just go for the idea that your taichou was in labor. I thought if I just got the whole explanation out of the way first, then she could jump right into helping us instead of trying to go through some kind of stupid diagnostic process."

Rikichi growled again. "You still should have paraphrased it or something."

"Stop," Hisagi interjected. "This isn't going to go anywhere that will help us. Rin couldn't have known we'd have additional problems with the communications. I've already said I thought he was taking too long to cut to the chase, but he did at least have a purpose behind why he told the story the way he did. Hopefully just the fact that they know we have a taichou in serious medical distress will be enough to light a fire under the Gotei's butts and get help to us. In the meantime, the worst thing we could do would be to start fighting amongst ourselves."

A moan brought their attention back to the taichou in question. Byakuya had remained silent since sending Rikichi away from him, preoccupied by more pressing things—literally—and it was obvious that until this latest contraction passed, there would be little in the way of an opinion on these latest developments coming from the noble.

Rikichi made as though to get up, but Shuuhei held up a hand to forestall him and pointed at Mihane's hand. "Finish the task your captain told you to do. I'll sit with him."

Rikichi nodded, and Mihane sighed softly with relief as the healing kidou washed over her aching limb again. Rin sat off on his own near the ruins of his survey module, gazing sadly at Byakuya's phone, which he still held. Shuuhei let him in favor of tending to the laboring shinigami, though he fully planned to jolt him out of his funk once they'd given Rikichi time enough to cool off that the other wouldn't start going off again at the Twelfth Divisioner. In-fighting was absolutely high up there on the list of things that would do in their chances of everyone getting home alive, and Shuuhei refused to put up with it. For now he'd let everyone stay away from each other and cool off, and then he'd set about making them mend fences.

But first, there was Byakuya himself who needed looking after.

The contraction was nearing its end as Shuuhei knelt beside him. Had it been any of the fukutaichou's close friends, he would have reached out and offered his hand to hold or placed it on their shoulder for comfort. But in this case he refrained, not believing physical contact would be welcomed by the high born shinigami, nor wishing to risk his own metacarpals by giving him something to clamp down on when the pains came again.

A thought struck him, one that he'd mused on every so often over the last seven hours as they waited for Byakuya's baby to arrive. Watching the laboring noble, Shuuhei couldn't help but think that if it were him in that same predicament, he would want Izuru to be there with him. He'd want the comfort of having his partner going through the experience alongside him, taking care of him, supporting him, welcoming their little one into the world with him. Not for the first time, Shuuhei wondered who the taichou had let near enough to him that he'd ended up as he was now. Was he in some kind of secret relationship as his perceived bachelor status would suggest, or was it as Rikichi had alluded to—the accidental fruit of a one night stand? Kuchiki Byakuya didn't seem the type to go for meaningless flings, but one never knew.

There was a part of Shuuhei that was burning to ask about it, but he bit his tongue. It was well established that this whole thing was a touchy subject for the noble, and the fukutaichou had no desire to pry into business that wasn't really his. The identity of the person who had managed to knock the great Kuchiki Byakuya up had no bearing on whether or not he and his offspring came through this ordeal alive, so unless the information was voluntarily offered, he believed it better to let Byakuya himself call the shots on if and when they ever found out.

But the sight of the proud captain stoically enduring on his own did make him wonder if Byakuya wasn't wishing the other parent were there with him. Hell, he'd love to know what was on the taichou's mind, period! Byakuya had hardly spoken outside of reassuring them that no, he wasn't getting the urge to push yet, and the light arguing with Shuuhei during the Seiretei's phone call.

"You seem to be thinking rather hard on something."

The fukutaichou blinked, head jerking up to regard Byakuya as the other returned his gaze passively. Looking at the noble, Shuuhei couldn't help but think that maybe it was better their phones didn't have a built-in vid-screen like their communication centers did. He didn't think for a moment that Kuchiki Taichou would have wanted anyone to see him like this, regardless of their dire need for help. A sheen of sweat glistened on the noble's brow, his face was flushed and overheated, and sand stuck to his hair and coated the skin on his back and shoulders. They'd given up trying to keep his cloak from slipping off the sand mound with all the twisting and turning he'd been doing, and he'd rejected offers of using one of their kosode, saying that the cool sand felt much better to lay against, regardless of the mess it made of him.

Shuuhei blushed at being caught staring blankly off into space while the other had been in pain right in front of him. The contraction was now obviously ended, and the taichou seemed to be waiting for some kind of response from him. He averted his eyes, unwilling to tell Byakuya he'd merely been musing on the paternity of his child, and if he was ruing said lover's absence.

"It's nothing," he said.

"Does it have anything to do with your reiatsu not recovering?" Byakuya asked quietly. Shuuhei's eyes snapped up, widened with shock. All thoughts of Byakuya's potential lovers vanished for the moment.

"But… your reiatsu is sealed away! How could you…"

Byakuya shook his head, as though he couldn't believe the other hadn't noticed the same tell-tale clues. "If it had recovered, you wouldn't have had difficulty sustaining that healing kidou."

The tattooed shinigami cursed silently. Of course. Leave it to the keen-eyed Captain of the Sixth to pick up on that. Damn it.

"Be honest with me. Do you have any suspicions regarding the cause? And don't say 'reiatsu fatigue'. Even without food and water, with rest and disuse it should still replenish itself at least a little. For yours to be so weakened, it would indicate something more than just hunger is keeping you from regaining your energy."

Shuuhei shook his head. "No, I don't know. I just didn't want to add to anyone's worries by mentioning it. If we're attacked, there's nothing stopping me from forgoing kidou and simply using Kazeshini, so it's not as though you can't still rely on me for protection."

Byakuya frowned. "And if you faint on us because your energies get too depleted? What are we to do then?"

The fukutaichou stared down at the sand. "I… hope it doesn't come to that. The fact is though, that just like with you, there's nothing anyone can do about it. I just have to keep going the best I can until we can get out of here."

The noble seemed about to reply when a beeping sounded from Hisagi's obi. Shuuhei cursed and fumbled to get his soul phone out and silence it.

The other three were looking at him with ill-disguised hope, obviously wanting it to be the Seiretei trying to contact them again. He hated to disappoint them, but there wasn't any way around it.

"Just an alarm, guys. Sorry," he said as he switched it off. "It was just reminding me of stuff it's time to take care of back home."

"Like what?" Byakuya wondered. "It hasn't gone off before, since we arrived here."

Shuuhei blushed again. "No, um… it's set to go off every six weeks to remind me it's time to, um, test myself again. Back home, with my schedule as busy as it is there have been times I've forgotten, so I made sure I'd have a dependable reminder. I didn't think we'd be here so long, otherwise I'd have shut it off. With everything that's happened I forgot about it."

"Then it's a good thing I didn't use up both of your tests," Byakuya noted.

"Eh?" the fukutaichou wasn't expecting that to be the noble's response. "Oh, don't worry about that, Kuchiki Taichou. Now's not exactly what I'd call an appropriate time for something like that. It won't hurt anything if I just wait until we get home."

Byakuya shook his head. "You misunderstand me. In light of the predicament we're in, it would put my mind at ease if you didn't wait. If you haven't put it out of your mind already, we were just talking about the curiousness of your reiatsu not replenishing itself, even at a reduced rate."

Shuuhei stared at him for a moment, confused. Then the proverbial light bulb went on as his brain aligned itself with the taichou's line of thought, and his jaw dropped with shock at what Byakuya was implying.

"What… no. There's no way! Me and Izuru have been especially careful about not letting me bottom unless I'm at the least-fertile part of my cycle."

"And did I not say that it shouldn't be possible for me because I was only intimate a few times and the chances should have been too small for something like _this,_" Byakuya motioned at his swollen stomach, "to happen?"

Shuuhei resisted the urge to reach out and see if the taichou had suddenly developed a fever and was therefore speaking delusionally. Honestly, the chances of one command-level shinigami finding themselves pregnant in circumstances like theirs were tiny enough, but two? The odds were just so miniscule, it was crazy to even think about it!

There was also a part of him that was quite frankly too chicken to want to consider such a possibility. He hadn't forgotten the last scare he'd had. Not only had it been frightening, it had also brought home one very clear point—Izuru's opinion on kids. Being from the noble class, he obviously would not consider starting a family outside of wedlock, and had expressed his desire to leave their relationship as it was for the time being. Ever since the scare, Izuru had been quite adamant about following Unohana's conception calendar to the letter, refusing to be seme if there was even the slightest question that the probabilities of him conceiving weren't at their lowest. The message had come home quite loud and clear. Izuru was not ready for a family, and if Shuuhei managed to conceive anyway, he dreaded what it might do to their relationship.

Byakuya's eyes were soft and sympathetic as he patiently waited for the other to let the idea circuit his thought process for a few moments. In all honesty, under normal circumstances he would never ask something like this of the fukutaichou, or anyone, for that matter. If things were 'normal' he'd have agreed that it was best for Hisagi to wait until he was home again to take care of something so personal. But just as he was now sitting mostly-bare in the sand, awaiting his child's birth 'just in case' the Seiretei couldn't come for them in time, it was likewise a good idea for Hisagi to rule out the same condition being the cause of his oddly diminished reiatsu, also 'just in case'.

After a few seconds of 'what if?' panic, Shuuhei sighed and mentally pulled himself together. Six weeks ago when he'd last tested himself it had been negative of course, and there was no indication since then that he and Izuru had deviated or erred in their precautions. He also couldn't think of any symptoms that he'd experienced during those weeks that would indicate he was suffering from a medical condition of any kind. This reiatsu issue was only hours old, and in all likelihood it was just Byakuya being on edge thinking that if a surprise pregnancy happened to _him_ in such circumstances, it could happen to any one of them. Therefore to put his and everyone else's minds at ease and keep their focus where it belonged—on Byakuya and his child—it would behoove Shuuhei to do as the taichou asked. Since he had to test himself again anyway it was just as well to do it on schedule, and once he got back to the Seiretei he'd know that both tests he re-stocked his zanpakutou with were fresh ones. So while a bit embarrassing, in the end it would actually do more benefit than hurt, thus making it worthwhile despite the blow to his masculine pride. He'd just have to think up some extra-creative threats with which to get Kazeshini off his case afterward. His fierce zanpakutou wasn't likely to let him live down such an 'unmanly' moment any time soon.

"Alright Kuchiki Taichou, if it'll ease your concerns, then I'll take the test. But everyone'll have to avert their eyes. I can't risk taking down the anti-sound shield. With my reiatsu as it is, I wouldn't be able to put it back up."

The others agreed and he retrieved the second test from Kazeshini's sheath.

As he moved over to the far wall and tried to get his body to urinate on command, Shuuhei couldn't help but remark on Kazeshini's lack of commentary to the zanpakutou. Kazeshini, contrary to his expectations, was staying absolutely silent, something his wielder didn't trust in the slightest.

_:You're awfully quiet. I would have thought you'd be cackling in my ear for this.:_

_:Hn. I do have some sense of respect for my wielder.:_ was Kazeshini's reply. Shuuhei frowned at the cryptic words, but didn't ask the spirit to elaborate. If Kazeshini had decided not to give him a hard time over a potentially embarrassing situation, then Shuuhei wasn't going to complain.

He finished his business and set his hakama to rights, and then counted off the two minutes until the test results could be read.

He glanced down at the test in his hand, fully prepared to announce it said the same thing every one he'd taken over the last couple of years had, and was forced instead to do a double take.

'…_What the hell?'_

Inside the results window the test was displaying a very clear, unmistakable blue plus-sign.

'_No… It's got be wrong. The test is broken, it has to be. Damn, if I still had the other one I'd be able to use it and confirm—'_

_:It wouldn't make a difference.:_

Shuuhei halted his internal dialogue, and mentally rounded on Kazeshini. _:Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?: _

_:That test isn't broken.:_

_:And how would you know?:_

_:If I want to, I can scan your reiryoku, just like you can willingly analyze the reiatsu of a shinigami within the vicinity. I typically wouldn't, but when your kidou failed earlier I decided to take a look. It wouldn't do after all if you were to fall in battle; I'd only get taken down with you.:_

_:Well aren't you nice.: _Shuuhei remarked dryly._ :So what are you saying? You found something in my reiryoku that's making the test give a positive reading?:_

_:Duh. Your offspring. Or to be more specific, your offspring's reiryoku. You and that blonde of yours gave it a good run, but it looks like Mother Nature got the better of you in the end. Congratulations.:_

_:You… My… And you didn't think to tell me?:_

_:First of all you didn't ask, and second I only looked just before that pregnant taichou you're babysitting asked you to take that damned test. Excuse me for minding my own business!:_

"Hisagi Fukutaichou?"

Shuuhei gave Kazeshini one last scathing mental glare, and returned his attention to Byakuya and the other three shinigami in the cave. He sighed and walked the few feet back over to them.

"Have I mentioned lately, how much I hate my zanpakutou?"

All four of his companions looked at him bewilderedly.

"I take it the test results were unfavorable?" Byakuya queried, wincing in discomfort, though it was hard to tell if it was from the contractions or something else, like the baby kicking.

"Thanks to the timing they are. This thing's telling me I'm pregnant, and my damned zanpakutou is saying he's able to confirm it. But of course he didn't tell me earlier, because he was trying to—and I quote—'mind his own business'!"

Rin and Rikichi were both wearing looks of equal astonishment. Byakuya simply nodded resignedly—as though with everything that had already gone wrong nothing could surprise him anymore. Mihane however, gave a much more verbal reaction.

"Of all the—! You have got to be kidding me! Twenty years with the Gotei 13, and I've _never_ heard of anything like this happening with even _one_ command level shinigami. Trust that the moment we get stranded during the worst conflict in centuries, it not only happens, it happens in duplicate!"

Before anyone could say anything she rounded on the two unseated males of the group. "Tell me there's no chance the two of you might be pregnant too!"

"Us? What about you?" Rikichi cried. "I haven't had a date in months, and I'm into _girls_, thank you!"

"Uh, I haven't been with anyone either," Rin murmured, but didn't elaborate.

"And _you, _9th seat Shirogane?" Rikichi goaded.

"Hmph! I'll have you know that I'm one hundred percent _not _pregnant! The fact that I've yet to miss a cycle proves it."

"Yuck, a simple 'no' would have been enough," Rikichi pulled a face. Mihane glowered back at him.

Shuuhei ignored their bickering and turned to Byakuya. "I think I need a few minutes, do you mind?" 

"Do I mind having time to myself with no one hovering over me?" Byakuya asked. "Of course not. Do what you must. It's a lot to process, I know."

Shuuhei gave a wry smirk. "Indeed you do."

Having said that, he turned and walked as far from the others as he could inside the small cave, sitting with his back to them and his knees drawn up to his chest. Byakuya watched him for a moment, biting his lip to try and keep silent for once as the next contraction built. It was by no means an easy task.

Part of him gave the fukutaichou a lot of credit for taking the news so gracefully. He certainly did better than Byakuya himself had. The noble decided it had to be because Hisagi obviously wasn't in labor like he was.

But it was still one more blow their already battered little group didn't need, and as the latest contraction built, Byakuya couldn't help but wonder just how many more things could go wrong before all was said and done. The contraction hit, and as he groaned involuntarily his thoughts turned to his own unborn offspring. He was by no means an expert, and for all he knew it could be just wishful thinking on his part, but something was telling him that it wasn't going to be much longer now. And when it came to the subject of things going wrong, this was one thing he prayed wouldn't be added to the list.

**~*~Seiretei, Division Six Training Grounds~*~**

Despite the speed with which Renji was capable of moving when angry, he wasn't the type of person who was hard to find. All Izuru had to do was follow the explosions.

Following the disastrous phone call to the Hueco Mundo team, Renji had stormed his way out of the Twelfth Division barracks—fortunately without breaking anything and setting Kurotsuchi after them (Izuru had no desire to have to break up _that _fight)—and returned immediately to the Sixth, stopping for nothing and no one until he reached the training grounds, at which point he'd immediately set about firing kidou at any and all targets he could track down.

Arriving just behind him, Izuru could see the worried and anxious faces of the members of the Division, milling about and chattering agitatedly. The Third Squad fukutaichou's frown deepened. If there were any doubts that phone call had truly been broadcasted, they were gone now, as he listened to the poor Sixth Divisioners fret over whether or not they would be the next Division to loose a taichou, speculate over what the causes of Kuchiki Taichou's 'illness' was, and overall wonder just what it was they were supposed to do.

It was a testament to the high rapport Renji had with his squad mates that their immediate response seemed to be to look to him for guidance, but with the virtual rampage he was on in the kidou range, none of them were brave enough to go near him to ask for it.

"Thought he might be here."

Izuru started, and noticed that the rest of the Squad Six members standing in the vicinity were staring with unadulterated shock at a spot right above and behind him.

He turned around, and found Zaraki Kenpachi and Yachiru standing behind him. Izuru opened his mouth to speak, only to have Zaraki brush right past him and stalk unafraid in the irate fukutaichou's direction.

"Don't worry, Ken-chan'll get Renji sorted out," Yachiru said, coming to stand next to him. "He said we had to come over here when we heard that broadcast. I have no idea why they let everyone hear Byakushi cry and yell like that, but Ken-chan knew Renji wouldn't take it well. He said he's going to wear him down so he doesn't get himself arrested for destroying Byakushi's barracks or something."

"That's… very considerate of you," Izuru stammered, not sure what to think of the gesture.

Yachiru grinned. "Once in Ken-chan's Squad, always in Ken-chan's Squad, no matter where Ji-Ji sends you to. No matter what squad Renji's with, me and Ken-chan and everyone in Squad Eleven will always be there for him if he needs us. Just because we're in different squads now doesn't change our friendship, don't you agree?"

Izuru kept his gaze on Zaraki and Renji, who both had their weapons drawn and were simply hacking away at each other with abandon. They seemed to be shouting some kind of dialogue back and forth, but Izuru couldn't make it out over the din of zanpakutou crashing against zanpakutou.

"Renji and I were classmates in the Academy. You probably heard how the two of us and Momo saved Shuuhei from a hollow during a Living World training exercise. That kind of history doesn't erase itself just because we went our separate ways instead of all staying together in Squad Five after graduation."

"Exactly," Yachiru nodded, eyes also following the battle before them. A few of the braver Sixth Divisioners ventured closer, debating amongst themselves if they needed to go out there and 'help' their fukutaichou, as the Eleventh Divisioners were obviously not there to pay a normal social call. Yachiru quickly put that foolishness out of their heads, before any one of them could get themselves killed trying to interfere.

"Don't even think about it! Kenny's just helping your fukutaichou blow off some steam. As soon as they're finished they'll come over here so Redhead can give you your orders. If you try to go over there now you'll only get caught in the crossfire. Ken-chan'll get _real_ angry with you if you do that."

The members of the Sixth did _not_ look at all pleased at being told what to do by a member of the Eleventh, but Yachiru was satisfied to see that at least they had the good sense to heed her warning and stay away.

Izuru's heart ached as he watched Renji snarl and scream, attacking Zaraki again and again. The massive taichou simply met him each time, calmly alternating between allowing him enough hits to satisfy his need to strike something with scoring as many back, egging the fight on until the tattooed shinigami was sweat-streaked and breathing heavily.

Eventually Renji began to slow, pausing momentarily after being knocked back to catch his breath before launching his attacks anew. As time wore on and the evening gave way to the darkness of night, those pauses began to get longer and longer.

"Had enough?" Zaraki finally huffed, when the redhead stayed crouched for several minutes, Zabimaru's blade resting in the dirt.

Renji didn't answer immediately. Instead he just kept his head bowed and his eyes shadowed, shoulders and torso heaving as he tried to get his breath back. Finally he punched the ground in front of him in frustration with his free hand.

"He's done," Yachiru said. "We should get over there now."

Izuru nodded and followed the pink-haired girl.

Yachiru approached Zaraki, taking her place at the taichou's side for the moment rather than resuming her customary spot atop his huge shoulders. Aside from some bruising, the two former squadmates actually hadn't done any real damage to each other, Izuru was pleased to note. There would be no need for anything other than a good, hot bath to restore them, which was exactly what Zaraki had probably intended. He'd known Renji would need something to take his anger and frustration out on, but that it needed to be done in a way that wouldn't leave him or whoever he was fighting too wounded to be of use when the gates were operational and a rescue party sent in to retrieve Kuchiki Taichou and the others.

Izuru knelt next to his long-time friend, but didn't touch him. He simply watched sadly as several droplets of moisture that looked too suspicious to be sweat dripped down onto the ground in front of Renji.

"He's in pain," Renji said roughly. "He was screaming and in pain. Taichou _never_ screams. Never. Whatever happened, it's bad. And we can't even help them."

The three standing around him didn't say anything, because there wasn't anything to say. Reassurances were empty at this point. All they could do was let the fukutaichou get the anger and frustration out of his system, and then try and bolster him as best they could until word came that something more could be done.

Renji pounded his fist into the dirt again. "I'm his fukutaichou, dammit! _I'm_ supposed to be there, not Shuuhei! Kami, I'm so useless. No wonder he's pissed at me."

Izuru frowned.

"You're not useless, you were on assignment. Being upset that you can't get to your captain when he needs help is understandable, but don't you think you're going a bit overboard?"

"How the hell is it going overboard when I didn't come straight back to the Seiretei when I got those orders? Instead I hung around with Ichigo and Rukia and the others. If I hadn't done that I would have probably gotten back in time to have gone with them!"

"Were your orders to return immediately?" Izuru asked.

Renji shook his head. "No."

"Then stop bitching!" Zaraki interjected. "You and I both know Kuchiki-hime woulda had you stuck behind a desk the moment your ass came through that door. There's nothing wrong with takin' a little time to have one last drink with your buddies before bucklin' down to that kinda crap. Trust me, no one's kidding when they say his highness has been nothing but a little bitch over the last few months. You wouldn't have wanted to go on a mission with him anyway."

"But it's my job as his second to field crap from him, not Shuuhei's," Renji mumbled.

"Hisagi sounds like he's got it covered," the scarred taichou waved off his protests. "Besides, I'm more curious to know what it was you did to earn yourself a death threat. Normally Kuchiki-hime either looks down his nose at you and tells you to go away because you're not good enough for him, or he kills you. There's not often much in the way of point blank threats like that. You haven't even been around for half a year. So what'd you do?"

"Yea Redhead, what'd you do?" Yachiru chirped.

Renji furrowed his brow. "Honestly? I don't know. I can't think of anything specific, except that I didn't get back quickly enough to go with him."

"Hnnn," Zaraki hummed, then looked at Izuru.

"Hey blondie, you used to be in Retsu's squad, any idea what's got the princess all outta sorts? We were wonderin' if something was up with him, with his behavior bein' all weird lately. Truthfully I shouda gone over to Yamamoto's, since he's probably got Unohana over there right now to account for that nonsense we all just got forced to hear, but knowin' her she probably won't say a word to anyone so it's just as well I came over here and burned Renji out before he did somethin' stupid. Since you're here I might as well ask you what you think."

Izuru was a bit taken aback, and at first not inclined to answer. But seeing Renji looking at him as though hopeful he could clear up the great mystery surrounding the absent taichou's behavior made him reconsider. Not being in Squad Four anymore meant that he was no longer an active healer, and no longer bound by the oaths he used to be.

He decided to humor the others by listing the possibilities, all but one. He wasn't certain if Shuuhei and Byakuya realized it or not, but their arguing had dropped a major clue. However, if what Izuru thought they had been referring to was actually the truth, then he absolutely did not want to say a word about it in front of Renji until they were actually about to go in and retrieve the stranded team. To do so would just get the already distressed fukutaichou worked up again, and Izuru had no desire to see him have to be sedated or locked up because he made an idiot out of himself trying to force his way into the senkaimon, or bully those working on the problem into solving it faster so he could get to his lover.

"There's any number of possibilities. At first, Kuchiki Taichou's demands that they 'get it out', seemed to indicate a weapon of some kind might have been lodged in a wound he sustained in battle. Depending on its nature, it could cause further problems if they were unsure how to safely remove it. But, they said he was ailing from something resembling food poisoning or indigestion. That would indicate possible poisoning or illness brought on by a bio-weapon. But without more details it's impossible to say which one is for certain."

Renji growled and punched the ground again. Zaraki simply nodded and sheathed his sword. "You two should get home and rest up. As soon as Yamamoto finds out Squad Twelve's got the gates working again, you can bet you'll be on the list of people he'll wanna send to bring the princess and company home."

He turned to walk away. Yachiru waved and hopped up on his shoulders.

"Hey, Zaraki Taichou."

The Kenpachi stopped and turned back.

"…Thanks," was all Renji said.

Zaraki nodded, and left the Squad Six grounds with his fukutaichou in tow.

Renji staggered tiredly to his feet, Izuru hovering close to make sure he didn't topple over.

"You mind helping me to my quarters? There's a hot bath in the officer's sentou that's got my name written on it, if I don't pass out first."

Izuru shook his head and let Renji lean on him as they left the training grounds. At the gate to the main compound, there were still lower seats as well as unseated officers milling around. They practically mobbed the two fukutaichou as they came past, demanding explanations and instructions.

Renji tried to appear at ease and unworried for their benefit. "Ease up guys. For the moment we have to sit tight until they get the senkaimon open again. Once that happens we'll be first in line to get Kuchiki Taichou back."

"But what if he dies before then?" one lower seat questioned.

"Hey, you still got me, doncha? Besides, you should know your captain better than to think he'll go down that easily," Renji said, shit-eating grin conveying nothing but confidence in Byakuya's survival abilities.

The others still looked worried, but were pacified enough that Renji and Izuru were able to get the redhead into the officer's baths without further interruption.

Renji sighed as the hot water sluiced over his skin, washing away the sweat and the grime. Once he was scrubbed down, he sank into one of the bubbling hot tubs. The Third Division fukutaichou leaned against the wall, waiting for him to finish so he could be sure Renji didn't accidentally fall asleep in the baths. He wasn't afraid of his fellow fukutaichou drowning himself, but the high temperatures of the water weren't healthy to stay in for too long.

"Hey, Izuru…?"

"Yea?"

"You think he'll be okay? Or am I just talking outta my ass and giving my Division false hopes?"

"I really can't say what's going to happen," Izuru replied. "But you and I both know that Shuuhei and the subordinates Kuchiki Taichou's got with him won't give up without a fight. With your taichou being as stubborn as he is, and them doing everything they can to get him home alive for treatment, and the Seiretei trying as hard as they are to get the gates unsealed, I'd say he's got as good a chance as he's going to."

"But if it isn't just an object lodged in a battle wound, if it is something like poison or disease… what then? Shuuhei and Rikichi are there, plus our 9th seat and that kid from the Twelfth… We stand to loose a lot more than just my taichou. You could loose your lover and me one of my best friends and my protégé. I can't believe you're staying so chilled out when Shuuhei for all you know could be next to get sick and be screaming like that," Renji mused dejectedly.

Izuru sighed. If it was poison or a bio weapon, then yes, that was a possibility. One that made his stomach twist nauseatingly. But he didn't think so. He still wasn't going to tell Renji, because he still didn't believe the other would be content to sit back and be as patient and well-behaved as he was now if he knew what might really be going on, but if his theory was correct, then Shuuhei wasn't in danger. Of course, he would still breathe a huge sigh of relief to see his tattooed lover walk back through those gates unharmed, but he at least could go to bed reassured that as long as they stayed out of battle and Aizen's clutches, Shuuhei would be perfectly alright.

Of course, Renji couldn't know that, lest he become suspicious. Izuru held no illusions that his old friend would refrain from trying to beat the truth out of him if he thought the Third Division fukutaichou was withholding information regarding Renji's lover, and what they were facing when they got him home.

"Of course I'm terrified for him, if we're dealing with some infectious disease. But as long as he says he's okay, I'll hold on to hope he's going to stay that way. I can't do anything else."

Renji nodded, as he got out of the water and toweled off. As he pulled a clean yukata on, he huffed. "You know, for someone who always has such a gloomy look on, you're a much better optimist than I am."

The blonde shook his head. "Nah, I'm just the one whose lover is still healthy this time. If our positions were reversed, I'd probably be the one praising your poise."

Renji gave a weak chuckle as they left the officer's sentou. "I don't know about that, but I appreciate the vote of confidence."

Izuru followed him back to his quarters and saw to it Renji got a light dinner in him, before saying goodnight.

"Thank you, Izuru. I owe you one," Renji said, as the blonde fukutaichou saw himself to the door.

"Nah, I owed you for all those times you helped me out. Like the time Shuuhei needed emergency surgery and you stayed the whole night with me in the Fourth," Izuru waved him off.

"Then I guess we'll just have to keep a running tab," Renji grinned.

Izuru chuckled. "Sounds good to me. Good night."

"Good night."

As he locked the door behind him and turned out the lights, Renji couldn't help but feel the ease that filled him from being with a friend who was trying to cheer him up drain away.

Curling up in his bed he hugged his pillow to him, deeply wishing it was the pale, warm, breathing body of his lover instead.

"I miss you, Byakuya. Those gates better not stay sealed for long, or I'm going to go crazy, wondering what happened to make you scream like that, and worrying if you're even still alive. No, I can't think like that. You have to be. After all, how am I gonna tell Rukia if you're not? You and me, we've come so far. I can't think that I came back after all these months just to loose you. Now you just have to come home so we can fix everything. Both whatever's wrong with you and whatever made you so angry with me. Please, Kami, let him come home soon…"

Too drained to plead with the greater powers or his lover any further Renji drifted off, dreaming fitfully of the endless passageways between the worlds, of the cries of his lover as Byakuya screamed in pain and fear, and Renji's own cries as he tried to find him, to save him, but failed…

**~*~TBC…~*~**

**A/N****: Again I'm cutting it off before I originally planned, because I worry that if I tried to make this one go to where I want it to end, I'd end up with a chapter that's 30 or 40 pages in length, which would then leave me with the following chapter being ridiculously short in comparison. As I really have my heart set on a certain ending for that one, I'm going to try and space things out a little better by moving some things to the next update. Next time- more reactions to that surprise broadcast, Unohana's meeting with Soutaichou, and things come to a head with our poor Hueco Mundo team. (I really need to start being nice to them one of these days, ^_^U)**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Your thoughts keep the muse happy and writing, so please don't hesitate to click on that button and let us know your thoughts!**

**Anonymous Review Responses****: **

**Katz- **I'm glad the phone call came off as funny to you. I honestly was a little nervous about it, as I find humor a hit-or-miss genre for me, but it seems it was a success this time around, so yay! Hope this chapter was worth it again.


	10. Chapter 9

**What to Expect When You're Not Expecting**

**Author****: WhipOfLightHeartOfSword**

**Rating****: M/R**

**World****: Semi-AU, Orihime wasn't captured and the Fake Karakura Town arc didn't happen. The Winter War continues. **

**Pairings****: Renji/Byakuya, Izuru/Shuuhei (more to be announced)**

**Feedback****: Yes please, but no flames.**

**Warnings****: Mpreg, Yaoi, childbirth, medical themes**

**Disclaimer****: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, Shonen Jump, etc., not me. This is a not-for-profit fanwork. **

**(For full warnings/disclaimers please see Chapter 1.)**

**A/N****: It's here at last! For those of you who check my profile, you've seen in my notes how RL has been absolutely determined to keep me from finishing this story. The muse has also been absolutely uncooperative, as she couldn't figure out how she wanted this chapter to go, and was also hating me for daring to make college a priority, lol. But five months of stubbornness has finally born fruit, hehe. Thank you all so much for your patience and encouragement, now enjoy!**

**Oh, and just to remind you in case you haven't paid much attention to the warnings- just as with the explanation for how mpreg is possible in this universe, the same 'look away if it squicks you' applies to that childbirth warning that's been hanging around on my headers these past nine chapters. Again, different people have different sensitivities, so although I don't think this chapter is too squicky, others might not agree. You've been warned.**

**One last thing—in a shameless bout of self-promotion, I have three juicy Bya-centric Halloween fics for my readers to choose from. So if you are of a mind that you'd like to have some spooky fun with our beloved Sixth Division this year, stop by my profile and check them out! Only the favorite is guaranteed to be written, the rest might go on hold until All Hallows Eve 2012.**

**~*~Chapter 9~*~**

Unohana walked swiftly through the corridors of Division One; taking the most direct route she knew so her arrival at the Soutaichou's office would not take a single second longer than absolutely necessary. She was alone, having ordered Isane to be on hand at the Twelfth Division so that when they managed to get communications with Hueco Mundo running again, there would be a qualified healer available to coach the stranded team until she could return. In the meantime, she hoped the Head Captain would consent for the meeting that was about to take place to remain between just the two of them for the time being. What she was about to do went completely against her basic instincts as a healer, and yet she could not and would not deny the fact that to this one person alone it was absolutely necessary that she unburden her tongue with the suspicions she would speak of to no one else. She only hoped that she could get to him in time. The same instincts that told her she needed to get there as swiftly as possible were simultaneously informing her that failure to make haste would only result in the situation taking a turn that would make damage control all the more difficult.

As the tall, gold-embossed doors to the First Division taichou's office came into view, the soft sound of voices caused Unohana to wonder if she might be about to walk into the exact scenario that she was dreading most to find, and her ears strained to pick up any further evidence that would confirm her fears or put them to rest. Unfortunately, the thick doors were designed to muffle sounds from within, and so she could do nothing but brace for the worst and hope for the best; something she knew she wouldn't be alone in doing throughout the coming hours.

She reached the doors, and the shinigami standing guard lifted his hand and knocked.

"Enter," the soutaichou's slightly muffled voice sounded from within. The door guard opened the doors and nodded to her. She dipped her chin once in thanks and strode into the office, the guard closing the doors behind her. She was relieved to see that although there were people present other than Yamamoto; neither was affiliated with the ones whose arrival she had especially wanted to beat.

Soutaichou Yamamoto Genryuusai sat straight and tall behind his disarmingly simple-looking desk. Sasakibe Fukutaichou and the First Division 3rd seat stood in front of him, the source of the voices she'd heard. As she stepped forwards Sasakibe and the 3rd seat looked to their captain, who nodded. Both bowed and strode by her towards the exit.

"Unohana Taichou," Sasakibe nodded as he passed her.

"Sasakibe Fukutaichou," she returned the greeting. A second later the doors practically exploded inwards, as an irate Kurotsuchi stomped in and pushed past the departing subordinates, in a fashion not unlike a reticent child getting ready to throw a tantrum. The two hastened their departure and the guards quickly pulled the doors closed again.

"Well, I am here, and would like very much not to be! Your spoiled little blue-blood and that racket he and his cohorts just caused have interrupted a very delicate stage of my experiment!" the scientist fumed.

Yamamoto's eyes narrowed, not appreciating the Squad Twelve taichou's attitude. He 'hmm'-ed, a clear sign that the two before him should forego any additional attempts to speak.

"It is not for you to decide whether I call on you to account for the actions of your subordinates, Kurotsuchi Taichou, as the duty of manning the communications center belongs to Squad Twelve, not the ones trapped in the middle of Hueco Mundo."

Kurotsuchi glowered, but wisely said nothing.

"Also, while I do not require that my taichou consider each other as friends, or even like each other, I do expect you to show concern that one of your fellow captains is in trouble that might threaten his life and—if the worst were to happen—leave us with yet another vacant command post when we can barely cover for the ones we have already," the Head Captain continued. "Now, I demand an explanation for that disgraceful audio display your department just subjected the entirety of the Gotei to. I guarantee you—if I discover it was a form of prank or petty revenge, the consequences will be severe."

Kurotsuchi shrugged dismissively. "It was an accident. My subordinates assure me that the tech at the console was startled—by none other than Unohana Taichou and those two fukutaichou—and hit the button to turn on the broadcast system accidentally. They weren't even aware of it until after the fact. Although, in retrospect it might have been for the best, as the result was the discovery that the virus attacking the system had actually attached itself to the broadcast program, something not discovered in the first wave of virus scans. We might actually wind up thanking Kuchiki Taichou in the end. Had he not fallen ill and instead terminated the call after a quick status report, we might not have found that little Trojan horse until much later when something more vital might have been on the line," he stated smugly.

Yamamoto was not amused. "I expect your department to find these problems without having to resort to exploiting another's misfortune, and if that virus cutting off the call causes us to lose another taichou, I for one will not consider it fortunate. The life of a taichou _is_ vital, especially in these times, and I will not be thanking anyone if Kuchiki Taichou comes back to us dead or debilitated and unable to serve the Gotei. Now, as it is vital that we get both Kuchiki Byakuya and Hisagi Shuuhei back alive—as we can not afford to loose an acting taichou either—I'm ordering you to suspend your current experiments, and aid your subordinates in getting all of our affected systems repaired and functioning."

Kurotsuchi gave him an incredulous look of pure outrage. "But—my experiments! Several are at very delicate stages and if I'm not there—"

"Then your subordinates will either have to take care of them for you, or you will have to start over at a later date. Experiments are of little concern in the face of having no inter-world travel and no communications when we are at war and several of our own need rescue. I want to see you here again tomorrow morning with a progress report. Dismissed," Yamamoto barked.

The Twelfth Division taichou snarled and whirled, stomping out of the room, muttering profanities and oaths under his breath.

"Whatever condition that noble priss of a captain's gotten himself into, I hope it's terminal!" he ranted under his breath as he stormed by Unohana.

As a healer the Squad Four taichou was horrified to hear such words, but as one of Kurotsuchi's colleagues she was hardly surprised. It was well known that life other than his own held little value to the man unless it was a necessary element to one of his experiments, which was why Unohana didn't feel sorry for him in the least for the predicament Soutaichou had just put him in. The man couldn't be formally punished as there was no rule stating he _had_ to care about the wellbeing of others, but that didn't mean the crafty old shinigami couldn't come up with a legitimate reason to deprive him of something he _did_ care about as a result of his disrespectful callousness.

"Now then," Yamamoto's voice brought her attention away from the departing taichou and back to him.

"I need not tell you that I was extremely disturbed at the distress I heard Kuchiki Byakuya in, and it also goes without saying that we can expect the Kuchiki council—or a chosen representative of theirs—to be breaking down my doors at any time now demanding to know what's become of their leader. I have instructed Sasakibe Fukutaichou and my 3rd seat to keep any inquirers away until I say otherwise, but we both know that in the case of the Kuchiki council the longer we make them wait the more agitated and disgruntled they will become, which will raise its own problems. We were already aware that there was something amiss with Kuchiki Taichou prior to this whole mess, and this latest development only puts to rest any doubts. I am aware that as a healer you will not make a diagnosis without having actually examined the patient. I am also aware that as a healer you will not gossip about potential illnesses a patient might have, as it is irresponsible, in violation of patient confidentiality, and could possibly create unjust and damaging rumors. However, between you and your commanding officer, I am asking you to forego this policy without fear of reprimand, so that I may have every piece of information necessary to take the best course of action in appeasing the Kuchiki council, and coordinating rescue efforts for Kuchiki Byakuya and the others stranded with him. Out of respect for your Hippocratic oaths, I will not reveal the details of what you tell me."

Unohana nodded. She'd expected as much, and was prepared to tell him her suspicions. She would just have to trust in her faith of the old shinigami, and his ability to withhold that information from the Kuchiki council. She dreaded what the leaking of such information could do to poor Byakuya, especially on top of the fallout he would inevitably face from that horrible broadcast, and the additional fallout that she expected would occur when he finally came through those senkaimon gates again.

"Barring the knowledge of Kuchiki Taichou's behavioral changes in the past months, most would conclude that his pain was either caused by poison or a weapon lodged in a wound, as his words to the ones with him specifically stated that he wanted them to get something out of him. However, by adding together my observations of him over the last months, and the bits and pieces I was able to gather from the phone call, I believe we are dealing with one and the same condition, and it is of greatest importance that we get him back here. Otherwise his life could very well be in jeopardy," she said.

"So I am safe to assume that we will either be rescuing six shinigami, or four," Yamamoto set his jaw, looking grim and worried.

Unohana blinked. "Then you came to the same conclusions I did, it would seem."

The old man gruffed, "You younglings forget how many years I have seen, and how much I have seen in those years. This is not the first time I have heard a person crying out with labor pains and threatening harm to their partner for getting them with child."

"Then you believe Kuchiki Taichou and Abarai Fukutaichou…"

"I knew their relationship had significantly improved and that they were close, however they had also been discreet and I can't accuse or punish without evidence. I had hoped that sending Abarai to Karakura might cool anything between them over time and distance, or at least make them consider carefully what they were doing, if they were doing anything. But this development shows I was not quick enough. I was aware that something out of the ordinary was affecting Byakuya, but it was not until I heard about his sudden liking for raspberries that I drew my conclusion he was with child."

"The raspberries? I admit they sounded like a craving to me, but I didn't expect others to see them as such. Most people believe pregnancy cravings involve strange or exotic food combinations," Unohana said.

The corners of Yamamoto's mouth quirked up slightly. "Most people do not remember that both Byakuya's mother and grandmother favored raspberries while pregnant. It was something of a private joke between Ginrei and I that he could tell when an heir to his line was expected, just by monitoring orders sent to the kitchens for that particular fruit."

Unohana smiled. "I was not aware of that. I wasn't asked to treat either woman, as they were not members of the Gotei."

"It is of little matter. I am more interested to know what you believe is going on right now. Obviously, if Abarai is the father then the child could not have been conceived any less than seven months ago, considering the length of time his mission has kept him and Byakuya apart. Do you believe this child is a premature birth, and might not survive without medical aid even if Byakuya does?"

Unohana thought carefully. "One would think so, especially considering that Kuchiki Taichou has not developed as pronounced a baby belly as would be expected if the fetus was at full term. At the same time, even though his symptoms were fairly mild overall—or at least innocuous enough that people mistook them for stress—the fact still remains that they don't generally show up immediately following conception. Most patients I treat, male pregnancy or traditional, begin to display symptoms around week six. The earliest most show symptoms is week four, and the latest around week eight. It is a rare treat to see an expectant parent not display any symptoms at all, and also rare to see them immediately as it takes time for those hormones to build up and induce noticeable changes. Based on the fact that Kuchiki Taichou's symptoms began around the time Abarai Fukutaichou left, I can say that if he's not already at full term, he's likely only two or three weeks away from it at the most; close enough that we would not have to consider the baby premature."

"And the fact that he has not grown enough to look pregnant as opposed to overweight? Could it be there are complications anyway?"

"Perhaps. But different people carry their baby differently. If the child was seated higher or further back, then it's possible that he or she is perfectly healthy, and simply wasn't situated in a way that would push Kuchiki Taichou's abdomen out into that distinctive curve. We won't know until we retrieve him and get him back to the Fourth for a full exam."

The Soutaichou nodded. "I have one final question. We are both aware of the uncertainty that Kurotsuchi Taichou or his Division will be able to get the virus flushed out of the computer systems and the senkaimon reopened, thought we do know that the virus is programmed to expire after 72 hours. I am still worried about what Aizen plans to do in that time while we are debilitated, and I hope we will not get communications back to find out he has decided to attack Karakura after all. But as we are in a holding pattern and the brief report from Hitsugaya Taichou cited exhaustion as the worst his men faced, my primary concern is Kuchiki Taichou's wellbeing, and the danger his condition and situation has put him in. Therefore I must ask—is there any way to know how close Byakuya is to giving birth, and what are the real chances of him surviving if he runs out of time and has to deliver the child before help can get to him?"

The healer felt her heart constrict at the look of almost grandfatherly worry that stole across the old shinigami's face. It wasn't a look that he would have allowed himself had this been a general meeting, but between just the two of them he was allowing himself to show more concern, knowing she of all people wouldn't breathe a word of it to anyone.

The soutaichou didn't play favorites, but there were a few taichou who held a special place in his heart.

It pained her to know she couldn't offer him much in the way of comfort. She wanted to, but being anything other than realistic wasn't going to do any good, and she wouldn't risk undermining the importance of getting her patients—both father and child—home and into her Division's care with all haste.

"I believe that Kuchiki Taichou and those with him will do their best under the circumstances, however, their lack of knowledge and medical supplies makes the situation very grave. Kuchiki Taichou is considerably healthy for a shinigami noble, but pregnancy taxes the body in ways it is unlikely to be taxed in any other scenario. One of the reasons it is so imperative for pregnancies to be monitored closely is because health issues can occur that might not be seen at any other time in the parent's life. Or benign conditions can suddenly become problematic. Since Kuchiki Taichou is more at risk for complications because of the limited gene pool of the nobles, I am even more concerned something could go wrong, and without monitoring equipment and the knowledge of early signs to look for, the subordinates with him might not realize something's wrong until it's too late."

Yamamoto's frown deepened and his lips pursed, a sign he was seriously worried and displeased. Unohana hated to continue, but she had no choice.

"And that's only Kuchiki Taichou's health. Without prenatal checkups we have no idea how the child has fared, or if it's even positioned correctly for birth. Ultrasounds would have shown if the umbilical cord was wrapped around a limb or the baby's neck, and if the child was in the correct position to be born or if it was breech. Of course there are other problems that could have cropped up during gestation that might not affect the birthing process, but could put the infant in jeopardy and limit its chances for survival if it does not receive treatment in a timely manner. All in all, it's a huge gamble."

The elderly shinigami closed his eyes and nodded, letting out a huge, displeased 'hmm'. "It would appear that even having vowed to stay out of trouble, it seems to find Byakuya anyway. Is there anything else? If Byakuya and his infant manage to avoid these misfortunes, would we still have a hope of retrieving them both alive and well?"

Unohana sighed. "There's always a chance of things working out well, but the birthing process is a little more complicated than one would think. Sometimes the body can signal the parent to begin pushing too soon, before the birth canal is fully dilated or before the infant is in the right position. If Kuchiki Taichou began bearing down too soon, he could do real harm to both himself and the baby. There's also the risk of tearing and excessive bleeding, and sepsis if a piece of the placenta breaks off and remains lodged in the body. It is a small comfort to know that children have been born healthy for centuries prior to the development of prenatal care, but one cannot forget the numbers that weren't so lucky, and the mothers that didn't survive the ordeal either."

"Like Byakuya's own mother," Yamamoto said grimly. The Fourth Division taichou nodded solemnly.

Further discussion was interrupted by the sound of raised voices coming from outside of the room, which quickly increased in volume before the doors were suddenly flung wide open, and a considerably irate noble whose dark hair and features clearly marked him as being of the Kuchiki clan brusquely strode through, a protesting Sasakibe on his heels.

"But Kuchiki-dono you cannot go in there! We've already told you—"

"Silence fool, I have no time to waste listening to the quibblings of mere toadies. I have business with your captain, and it will be seen to _now_!"

"Now really, Councilor," Yamamoto chastised, wasting no time in bringing the furious noble's attention off of his harried fukutaichou. Sasakibe gave him a look of hapless gratitude as the Kuchiki councilor whirled on the two taichou standing in front of him.

"There's no need for such a breech in decorum. I expected one of you might come to inquire about the situation that's come to light. I merely wanted the opportunity to hear the full story from my subordinates so that when you did arrive I would have some real news to impart to you. It would be an inconvenience for you to come all this way only to hear that I had no more idea than you of what was going on."

"And just what is the full story, Yamamoto?" the noble snapped. "That disgraceful audio display seemed to indicate our clan's leader is in serious distress, and that Rukon dog he calls his fukutaichou has something to do with it!"

The soutaichou's eyes narrowed, clearly displeased at the slur against one of his officers. "Unohana Taichou has given her analysis of the situation, and she believes Kuchiki Byakuya's pain is causing him to lash out verbally. Abarai Fukutaichou has been stationed in the Living World for the last seven months, and has had no contact with anyone in his Division except by correspondence. His return did not occur until after Kuchiki Taichou led the recon detail to Hueco Mundo, so there is no evidence to suggest any harm has befallen him at his fukutaichou's hands. As for Kuchiki Taichou's condition, while it is certainly disconcerting we do not believe he is in mortal danger at the moment. Our specialists in Squad Twelve are working to get the senkaimon and communications repaired, and Unohana Taichou will have a medical team ready to retrieve Kuchiki Taichou the moment inter-world travel is restored."

The aristocrat huffed disdainfully. "And just what does your healer believe is wrong with our Head of House?"

Unohana lifted her chin daintily and smiled. "That is something Kuchiki Taichou is free to discuss with you at his discretion. It is not my place to break his or any patient's confidence without their leave."

The noble looked a tad disconcerted and turned his irritation back on the old shinigami who sat as unmoving as a stone statue behind his desk. "I expect you will inform us if and when anything else arises?"

Yamamoto cracked an unimpressed eye open. "I have never failed to inform a noble household when events are of concern to them, and I see no need for that to change. Now, if you will excuse me Councilor, I have other business to attend to that is not of interest to you. My fukutaichou will see you out, and I will send a hell butterfly when I receive any news that pertains to you."

The irate nobleman glowered. "There's no need," he grit through his teeth, whirling and striding gracefully out of the office.

"You may return to your duties, Fukutaichou," Yamamoto said to Sasakibe. The lieutenant bowed and left, looking as though he was wishing for a drink to sooth his nerves.

"If there's nothing else you need to ask, then I think it would be best for me to return to my Division and get a team prepared to treat Kuchiki Taichou and his child. We also need to be ready in case anything befalls anyone deployed with him. Sadly, I can't expect the denizens of Hueco Mundo to be so kind as to pretend they don't smell shinigami blood," Unohana said.

Yamamoto nodded. "Indeed. Go then, and please let me know the moment anything new develops."

"Of course," the healer smiled serenely as she left, though beneath their calm façades each knew the other was terribly worried, and that no matter how much effort was put forth, all they could really do was wait and pray that the disaster hanging over their heads declined to come crashing down on them.

As the doors opened to let her out, a worried Ukitake rushed in. Kyouraku followed closely after, along with several hell butterflies.

"Soutaichou! Unohana Taichou! What's happened to Byakuya? Do we know what is ailing him or how long it will take until the senkaimon is functioning again? Is there anything we can do?" Ukitake was wheezing slightly, having aggravated his delicate lungs in his rush to reach the First Division.

"Please, Ukitake Taichou," Unohana admonished gently. "Breathe deeply and calm down. You won't be in any condition to help anyone if you allow your lungs to become inflamed."

"I agree, but he always seems to heed your advice better than mine," Kyouraku smiled wryly. Ukitake blushed sheepishly as he did as Unohana instructed, though he too had a humored glint in his eyes.

"But I have to say I'm very interested in hearing the full story behind that broadcast," the taichou of the Eighth continued, turning his attention to Yamamoto. Before Yamamoto could answer him, several more hell butterflies shot into the room and hovered expectantly around Yamamoto's desk, whirling around each other and almost fighting over who would be given attention first.

"From the looks of things, I'm not the only one."

Yamamoto hmm-ed. "For the moment there isn't much to tell and even less to be done. For now it is enough to say that something has gone wrong on Kuchiki Taichou's mission. Alert everyone that there is to be a taichou meeting as soon as the Twelfth Division has news that we can determine a course of action with, so it would be prudent for all captains to remain close by. I will send butterflies to Abarai Fukutaichou and Kira Fukutaichou so the Third and the Sixth may be represented as well."

The three taichou nodded, and left to allow the Soutaichou to sort out the frantic hell butterflies and send out word of the impending meeting.

"Anything you can tell us, Retsu?" Kyouraku asked.

Unohana shook her head gently. "You know it's not my place. But I can say I believe it to be too soon to be planning Kuchiki Taichou's funeral, so hopefully you will rest easier tonight knowing that."

Both taichou immediately looked somewhat relieved.

"Thank you," Ukitake said softly, as they parted ways at the First Division gates.

Unohana smiled and nodded.

The two men both shared a brief communicative look before walking together in the direction of the Thirteenth Division offices, while the healer headed for the Healing Center. As she came through the doors she was greeted by Yaruchika and a group of healers who were on duty.

"Unohana Taichou, what are your orders?" the 3rd seat asked.

"For now prepare exam rooms Two, Five and Six, and be sure we have beds prepared in case the worst happens and they all return needing treatment. Be sure to have a private room prepared as well," she said.

"And," the head healer's voice stopped them as they dispersed to do as she wanted. "be certain all Squad personnel remember their Hippocratic Oaths. Whatever your theories about the nature of Kuchiki Taichou's condition, I expect you to keep them to yourselves."

The healers all nodded and scampered off, any thoughts of gossip banished as they were reminded that theirs was not the taichou anyone wanted to cross.

Unohana spotted Hanatarou walking down the hallway with a stack of clean bed linens, and motioned for him to come to her.

"I need you to quietly get another private room ready, this one for a birth father and a newborn. Please be discrete, so none of the other patients become suspicious and start speculating with their roommates or their visitors."

Hanatarou nodded, facial expression one of worry as he too had been made suspicious by what he had heard. Her order only served as confirmation to him that he'd guessed right.

"Do you want me to get it ready for delivery? Or should I be cleaning the delivery suite too?" he asked solemnly.

Unohana smiled gently. "You may prepare it for delivery, yes. Although I'm not sure we'll need it for that."

The little healer nodded again, bowing as far as he dared with his arms full before silently retreating to a linen closet to drop off his burden, and disappeared back down the hall in the direction of the maternity wing.

**~*~Las Noches****~*~**

"Oh, how intriguing…" Gin chuckled.

Tousen looked over at the silver-haired former taichou as the other's mirth failed to subside after the first few token sounds, his shoulders shaking as he tried to control the volume of his laughter.

"What could possibly be said over those airwaves that's so funny?" he questioned, wondering if his compatriot had finally gone off the deep end. Many things seemed to be a joke to Ichimaru Gin that others wouldn't think of as humor in the slightest. So when the silver snake found something amusing for a period of ten seconds or longer, one was best off to assume that something boded very ill for one poor soul or another.

"Why, a very intriguing little conversation our old friends were just having," Gin replied, ever present smile quirked up in an expression that could only be described using adjectives such as 'devious' or 'gleeful'.

Before the other traitor could ask him to elaborate, Gin leaned forward and spoke into his console's microphone. "Oh, Aizen-sama? If you would be so inclined as to come down here, I have something I believe will be of extreme interest to you."

Tousen and the arrancar sitting at various stations around the room stared at him with unbridled curiosity, wondering what he could have possibly overheard that could be important enough to request Lord Aizen himself to join them.

Refusing to elaborate any further, Gin leaned back in his chair with his chin propped up on his palm, and shook his head in bemusement.

"Ah, Byakuya, Byakuya, Byakuya…"

**~*~**** Hueco Mundo~*~**

'_Pregnant.'_

That one word rang through Shuuhei's head like a gong. A death gong.

That one word meant the end of a lot of things for him, not the least of which might very well be the relationship he cherished so much.

Shuuhei ducked his head, resting his chin on his knees as he hugged them tighter. Behind him, he could hear Kuchiki Taichou's soft groans as he fought to keep from screaming. A small part of Shuuhei's heart went out to him, not blaming him for trying to get some control back even though the fukutaichou believed it to be useless. But that thought was eclipsed by the dread and sorrow brought on by his own predicament.

He'd failed.

All throughout the past two years, he and Izuru had been very honest about where their relationship was, and where it was not. It was not at the point of being permanent, not even at the point of thinking about making it permanent. And neither of them—as bachelors or as a couple—were ready for kids. That much had been made clear time and time again.

Instead of seeing other families with their children and musing about what their own might look like, both he and Izuru would simply share a glance and shake their heads; disinterested in knowing because their present lives were enough for them. Comforting a child they had just saved from a hollow was a simple kindness neither thought anything of, but ask them to care for someone else's babe and both fukutaichou would stare cluelessly and be overcome with the instinct to run away. Overhearing expecting mothers within their squads sharing details with veteran moms who had all sorts of horror stories to tell made both especially keen in taking precautions. Why else would Shuuhei have so sportingly tried method after method of birth control, when all they ever did was make him severely ill?

And that horrible mission when Izuru had called to say they might have messed up and gotten him pregnant anyway…

Shuuhei would never forget that week and the hell it put him through as long as he lived. The intensified fear of battle and the harm he might do to the innocent life he carried if he acted recklessly. The fear that if he held back an enemy might overcome him, and the child—and possibly himself as well—would be lost anyway. The dread of the changes being a parent would bring to his life. Fear that he would be dragged into a hasty marriage so both the Kira family and Izuru could keep up appearances. Suffering panic attacks over the alternative of being driven out of the Seiretei and forced to eke out an existence in the Rukon, while Izuru's clan did damage control to restore their image. Jolting awake from nightmares of losing Izuru either because the other would rather break up with him to avoid parenthood or because he would resent Shuuhei for taking many of their choices as a couple away from them. The list went on and on.

When he'd gotten back to the Seiretei, he'd been a complete mess and desperate to hear from his boyfriend that his fears were unfounded. Sadly, the truth was that they actually didn't seem too far off the mark. Izuru was beside himself with worry, practically begging him for reassurance it was a false alarm. When Unohana had confirmed it was, the blonde had nearly fallen into a chair near Shuuhei's bed with relief, and after that became more obsessively anal than Shuuhei himself about preventing a repeat.

Of course, that behavior had only lasted a few months, before Shuuhei had been forced to warn him that it was starting to come between them. But even once Izuru had snapped out of it and finally calmed down, the damage had already been done.

Shuuhei had done his best to put it behind him, but had found himself constantly on edge anyway, wondering if the day would come when it wouldn't be a false alarm. Storing pregnancy tests in his zanpakutou sheath had done a world of good to ease his mind, but from where he was sitting now—stuck in Hueco Mundo, listening to his friend's taichou screaming with labor pains, and now finding out that his efforts not to get knocked up had failed anyways—he wondered if maybe all he had accomplished was giving himself a false sense of security.

A shiver ran through his shoulders as Kuchiki Taichou gave another agonized moan, and the fukutaichou of the Ninth suddenly felt the urge to throw up.

He was pregnant. Oh, Kami. He wasn't ready to be pregnant! He wasn't ready to be a father! He wasn't ready for the morning sickness, the weight gain, the helplessness, the unpredictable reiatsu, the cravings… He wasn't ready for the monkey wrench it was going to throw into his work! He had a newspaper to organize and edit, a captainless Division to hold together, a war to lead them through…! The Gotei _needed_ him! They were down two taichou and a fukutaichou, and with Kuchiki Taichou in labor, that meant they were going to be out a third taichou until he was recovered enough. Aizen could attack at any time and if he was too child heavy to lead his men…

Suddenly, Shuuhei wanted nothing more than to have Izuru there holding him. He wanted _someone_ to comfort him, to reassure him that his entire life wasn't about to go to hell on him.

Except... Izuru didn't want children. And his boyfriend had gone and gotten himself knocked up…

A nauseating, icy ball of grief knotted his stomach as the reality closed in that if Izuru was there, it wasn't likely he'd be holding him. It was entirely possible that all the things he feared would have already been set in motion.

Another muffled cry from Kuchiki Taichou made him curl tighter into his ball of misery.

Even if Izuru didn't leave him, how was he going to do his job? Kuchiki Taichou had managed but it had been at the cost of his child's health, from the looks of things. His baby belly was so small… was the child premature, or had something else gone wrong? Shuuhei himself had such a high-stress schedule… and now he was going to have to worry about a baby belly, cramps, fatigue, cravings, and any number of things that were going to make doing all of his duties extremely difficult. Especially since he had no idea what Izuru's family was going to throw at him, or how he was going to cope once the baby came and needed round-the-clock care…

Oh, Kami… he was going to get fat. He was going to want strange foods. He wasn't going to be able to train. He wasn't going to be able to get up on his own. He was going to be tired and moody and crying at every little thing. He was going to end up in the Fourth Division with his feet in stirrups pushing a _baby_ out of him. He was probably going to kill the poor thing because he was absolutely ignorant of what kind of care infants needed, let alone had any idea how to raise one! The love of his life was going to hate him and probably leave him. Soutaichou was going to demote him for not being able to work when the Gotei were at war—

_**:Enough!:**_

Shuuhei's head snapped up, the reverberations of Kazeshini's mental voice throughout his skull jolting him out of his whirling thoughts. The cranked-up volume made his skull ache, and he winced unappreciatively. Kazeshini took zero notice as he proceeded to give his panicking shinigami _his_ view on the whole thing.

_:Enough__! First of all, we're in the middle of enemy territory, so fucking get it together! Honestly, I'd love to know who I killed in a past life to deserve being stuck with a shinigami who's so worried about something that hasn't happened yet, that he's going to forget to do what he has to, to survive long enough for it to happen! Stop whining and think about this: You're not even going to get the chance to find out what your boy-toy's going to say about parenthood, because unless you get off your ass and work to get us out of here, some hollow's going to find us and solve the problem by eating you first!:_

Shuuhei bristled. _:He's not my boy-toy.:_

Kazeshini gave him a challenging grin _:Tche, like I care! Tell me something, how do you feel about the tiny one?:_

_:Tiny one?:_

_:The baby!: _Kazeshini groaned. Shuuhei could practically hear the slap of his palm against his forehead. _:Forget Izuru for half a second and think about the fact that _you_ are going to be a daddy, okay? So, how do you feel about that?:_

Shuuhei paused for a moment. _:I… don't know. Frightened, I guess.:_

_:Like that wasn't obvious,: _Kazeshini deadpanned. _:Let me ask it this way—If we weren't in a life-threatening situation, and you didn't have to worry about how your boyfriend was gonna react, how would you feel? Seriously. You've just been told you're going to be a parent; how do you feel about it?: _

The Ninth Squad fukutaichou let out a slow breath as he turned the question over in his head. How did he feel about being a father? About having his body hijacked for nine months and having a tiny life entirely dependant on him?

_:Honestly? I don't know what to think. I'm not thrilled about the thought of pregnancy symptoms… and if what Kuchiki Taichou's going through is anything typical then I'd love to be anesthetized the moment I realize I'm in labor…:_

Kazeshini snickered.

_:But… I guess it might not be so bad… I mean, I thought__ that if I found someone I liked enough to settle down with, parenthood would be an eventual step… I just don't know what to do since it happened when I wasn't ready for it.:_

_:Do you want to get rid of it?:_

_:No!: _

Hisagi jerked, startled by the strength of his own aversion to the idea. He still absolutely dreaded what the next year would have in store for him, but the thought of putting an end to it never occurred to him. Despite his taichou's defection from the Gotei, Shuuhei still put great value on the lesson the man had left behind—needless bloodshed should always be avoided.

Why should he kill the child, when he was the one who knew he was playing with fire and yet hopped into bed with Izuru anyway? If killing it under such circumstances wasn't needless bloodshed, then he didn't know what was. Sure he might not know anything about babies, but if parenthood was really impossible for him then couldn't he simply delegate his duties until the pregnancy was over and then find a family who could give the child proper care later?

_:Exactly. Now, since you've realized that your situation is what it is regardless of your boy-toy's opinion, think you can stop sulking and help that noble __like you promised you would? He's not looking too good…:_

Shuuhei's rebuke against Izuru being called a 'boy-toy' disintegrated as the highest pitched and most agonized cry yet filled his ears, accompanied by Rikichi's "Oh Kami! Kuchiki Taichou?".

His head whipped around and he cursed at the scene that met his eyes, jolting him out of his own worries and onto his feet as he darted back across the cave.

**~*~****(page break)~*~**

As Byakuya lay panting and aching and waiting for his offspring to choose to finally stop tormenting him and make an appearance, he found that one of the worst aspects of labor wasn't just the pain, but the anxious introspection that came with it.

Hunger pangs and severe thirst had been plaguing him in addition to the contractions for hours, but he'd stubbornly refused to say anything, as there was no sustenance to be had and it wouldn't do any good to get his companions worked up over it. Kami forbid they got it into their heads to try and go find any. It wasn't much of a relief that those needs had diminished into nonexistence as the contractions had gradually increased in intensity. Focusing on anything but the horrific feeling of his nether regions being slowly torn apart should have been difficult, but after the severe shock of finding out what his medical condition really was, followed by hours of simply laying around with nothing to do but cry out in pain, his mind was actually desperate for something—anything—else to occupy itself with.

Unfortunately for him, there were plenty of thoughts whirling around in his head that were all too eager to oblige, and not all of them were pleasant ones.

First and foremost was the sheer incredulity that he'd had really gone at least seven months without knowing he was pregnant. How had he not _noticed_? How could the symptoms have been so innocuous that he hadn't picked up on it? Obviously women seemed to figure it out in a timely fashion. Was it really only because it was so hard not to notice that their monthly cycle had failed to come on schedule? Wasn't he supposed to have had cravings for very inappropriate food combinations? He'd constantly wanted raspberries, but those seemed far too normal to be a real pregnancy craving. And what about the weight gain and morning sickness? He'd only felt nauseous; he'd never actually gotten to the point of throwing up. And his belly was still so small! Was the baby alright? How big was he supposed to be? Obviously bigger than he was, if he was really far enough along to have gone into labor. But he wasn't, so just how far along _was_ he then?

His train of thought was cut off abruptly as the next contraction hit. His breathing quickened as he struggled to focus on that instead of yelling again. It was only somewhat successful.

As the contraction gripped his insides like an iron vice, Byakuya again lamented that the phone call with the Seiretei had been cut off. He would dearly love to know how much longer he was going to have to endure this! Aside from laying there and waiting for Nature to take her sweet time, he had no idea what he was in for. When was the baby actually going to come? How was he going to know to start pushing? What if it wasn't something he'd know on his own and his child was harmed because it was left inside the womb for too long?

Fear of the unknown took hold of his heart just as strongly as the contraction had his lower body.

What if his own ignorance killed his child?

He wished dearly at that moment that Unohana was there to tell him he was okay, and that the baby was going to be fine as well. Even more than that he wanted Renji! It wasn't only _his_ child whose life was on the line, it was his lover's child too! It was _their_ child, the one he'd wondered if they'd ever even get to the point of having together.

A soft sob caused his breath to hitch. Distantly he heard what he thought was Mihane's voice murmuring something to him as the contraction eased off, but he was too preoccupied to care. He was so exhausted… Who was he kidding? A male couldn't give birth out in the middle of the desert wilderness without a knowledgeable caretaker to coach him through. Especially a first-time parent with no idea what he was in for anyways.

He just wanted to give up!

Kami, if he'd ever needed Renji and his never-give-up attitude, now was the time! The fact that his lover was literally an entire world away and completely unaware that Byakuya was in labor with their first child drove a proverbial knife of guilt through his heart.

It wasn't right! Renji shouldn't miss out on this! Hell, he shouldn't have missed out on any of it! They should have discovered the pregnancy together in its early months like normal couples did. They should have had the opportunity to petition the Council to marry, or at least have the child legitimized before it was born, so there wouldn't be any possibility the family might forcibly take it away later. They should have gone together to prenatal exams and been coached on what to expect as he progressed. They should have been able to inform Soutaichou well ahead of time and prepare for the Sixth to be run without him for a few months.

They should have had the time to get _used_ to the idea that they were going to have a child! It was bad enough that they were going to have to re-acclimate to life as a couple once they reunited, but to have a brand new baby to factor in after seven months of separation and only a few months of courtship prior was simply _asking_ for their romance to fall apart! Byakuya knew Renji was the chivalrous sort who would want to own up to his half of the responsibility, but that didn't mean he would want to stay in a relationship with the baby's other parent. It also wouldn't stop things from getting downright ugly when the Kuchiki family took offense to the new halfbreed's peasant sire spending his free time around the mansion to help care for the babe. Nor would it stop them from making Byakuya's own life hell for having had the audacity to go back on his word and not only fall in love with another commoner, but to conceive a bastard child by him to boot!

His heart sank. Even if he survived this ordeal, the hell he faced would only be just beginning.

Another contraction began almost right on top of the last, it seemed. Part of him wondered what terrible crime he could have committed to deserve to go into labor while stuck in the absolute most dangerous setting he could think of; barring Las Noches itself, of course. Byakuya shuddered at the thought of Aizen gleefully holding him captive somewhere until he'd given birth, before stealing his infant away to raise as the newest traitor to aid him in the overthrow of the Soul King.

Personally the Sixth Division taichou would rather die and take the babe to the afterlife with him than see that happen.

Shaking his head to clear that terrible line of thought away, he couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't onto something though. He _had_ broken the rules again, even more spectacularly than the first time. For taking Hisana as his bride the family had delayed naming him as the heir, and put the blame on his shoulders for forcing them to break the rules themselves and wait far longer than tradition allowed for choosing Ginrei's successor. And yet losing her had been a far worse punishment than the icy regard he'd earned for denying his family the most powerful heir they'd ever had so he could flaunt his disobedience of the rules.

Could it be that Hisana's death was Fate's punishment for delaying his embarkation on his predestined path in life? If so, then what horrors awaited him for taunting the greater powers _again_ and begetting an heir that went against everything tradition and law demanded that a future leader of the Greatest of Noble Households be? True, he could marry and produce another one (not that he wanted to, after this experience), but to pass over an elder child in favor of a younger one was not something that was recommended, lest the older one become resentful and a threat to the younger. Since the Kuchiki clan was traditionally led by a male, if his baby were a boy it would be even harder to justify such a thing, unless his son failed to develop the prescribed minimum power level for leadership or displayed mental illness.

He stubbornly tried not to think about the fact that such things could be easily inflicted on the child artificially so as to ruin his chances of not only leading the clan, but a normal life as well. Not to mention it would be the perfect way to incite Renji to do something stupid so they could justify getting rid of him and the stain he'd placed on their noble family tree.

Byakuya wanted to kick himself for the trouble he'd so foolishly gotten all three of them into.

Unbidden, the stern visage of his grandfather materialized in his head. He could practically hear Kuchiki Ginrei's voice berating him, saying this whole fiasco absolutely served him right. After all, he'd only been asking for it, sporting around as he had. Perhaps _this_ punishment would _finally_ teach him to stay out of mischief.

Another contraction, this one the strongest yet, hit him like a battering ram. Preoccupied by his thoughts and unprepared for the pain, the taichou screamed and jolted upright. The mental image of his grandfather frowned deeper, and admonished him for forgetting to keep his pain to himself.

Ah, but when his grandfather had taught him that, Byakuya was quite certain childbirth was the last pain Ginrei had ever expected his grandson to be forced to conceal.

Embarrassed and feeling absolutely wretched, Byakuya mentally banished the image, preferring a blank mind to the imagined rebukes of a man who wasn't even around anymore to give them. Further introspection was tossed to the wayside as he propped himself up on his right hand and curled his left arm around his abdomen, heels digging into the sand to brace him as the feeling of being ripped in half intensified.

"Oh, Kami! Kuchiki Taichou?" he barely registered Rikichi's frightened cry as he helplessly wondered if he wasn't going to die from the sheer overload on his nerves.

When the pain began to subside again he raised his head to find himself surrounded by four terrified faces, and that his lip was stinging fiercely. There was a warm, wet _something_ trickling down his chin, and his 9th seat was gently admonishing him.

"Kuchiki Taichou! Please stop biting your lip, you're going to sever it if you keep clamping down on it like that!" Mihane dabbed at the teeth marks in his flesh.

Byakuya was less concerned with her and more so with the incessant urge to push that had come over him as the pain had abated.

'_Is__ this it then?' _The thought terrified him, at the same time that it gave him hope that there was an end in sight.

"Kuchiki Taichou? Is something the matter? Have the pains changed?" Hisagi was asking.

"I… I feel like pushing," Byakuya grit out, as the next contraction started to build.

The alarm that statement caused would have been almost comical if it had been any other situation.

"Oh… OH! Taichou! Are you sure?" Rikichi didn't seem to know what to do with himself, fidgeting as if he couldn't quite decide if he should leap up and pace, or stay right where he was.

"Okay, okay!" Shuuhei was holding up his hands and motioning for calm. Any squeamishness or doubts were cast to the wayside as the squad leader in him took over and began barking out orders. "Since we have no idea what's supposed to look like what—Mihane, I want you to sit at his head and coach him. Whatever stories you can remember from your family or friends, pull any advice from them that you can. Rikichi, if you're not too tired, heal his lip and be ready to keep healing it if he bites it again. Be his support if he needs it. Rin, I know you don't like blood, but I'm going to need you to hand me anything I ask for, and keep monitoring the soul phones in case we get a signal from the Seiretei. Dear Kami, I hope we do."

Byakuya wholeheartedly agreed, although he was too focused on the increasing pressure of the next contraction.

Mihane positioned herself on his right, this time without allowing her hands anywhere near his, and Rikichi took up a spot on his left. Rin stayed back, positioning himself where he could be of use and yet not be faced with the terrible sight the Ninth Squad fukutaichou was as he knelt near Kuchiki Taichou's legs. Instead he kept an ear out for orders from Hisagi Fukutaichou, and resolutely stared at the soul phone in his hand, as if by strength of will alone he could force service to the Seiretei to be restored.

"If I may, Taichou?" Shuuhei asked, tugging at the edge of the cloak draping the noble's legs meaningfully.

Byakuya was more interested in being ready to push than he was in whoever saw his nether regions. Twenty four hours earlier, he would have gutted anyone other than Renji or Unohana who dared tried to look there. Now all he cared about was getting this baby out of him, and to hell with anyone who chose to watch!

"Do whatever you have to."

The contraction hit its peak, and he leaned forward, curling over his stomach and bracing his heels in the sand for leverage.

"That's it, Taichou! Push!"

Byakuya became mildly irritated at being talked to while he was trying to concentrate, but ignored it in favor of bearing down.

"How long is he supposed to push for?" Rikichi wondered when the noble stopped and rested after about six seconds.

"However long his body tells him to," Shuuhei shrugged; too morbidly fascinated with the sight in front of him to worry over labor trivia he didn't know.

Pushing back the cloak had revealed blood leaking from the birth canal that had developed where the perineum had formerly been. Other than that, the fukutaichou hadn't the faintest idea _what_ exactly he was supposed to be seeing, so he simply knelt and alternated between watching for the baby to begin emerging, and keeping an eye on Kuchiki Taichou's facial expressions for signs of distress.

With Mihane and Rikichi coaching, Shuuhei on baby-watch, Rin keeping his finger poised over the call button, and Byakuya resolutely bearing down each time his body asked, the rest of the universe seemed to fade out of existence. Almost an hour passed before Shuuhei noticed a dark shadow begin to appear and steadily grow larger, glinting wetly in the dim kidou light.

"I think I see the head!" he yelped excitedly.

"About time," Byakuya panted breathlessly. He slumped backwards, and both Rikichi and Mihane were forced to grab his arms and pull him back upright.

"Taichou! Come on, you have to keep pushing," Rikichi urged.

The noble shook his head wearily. "I don't feel like it," he stated simply.

"But Kuchiki Taichou, you must!" Mihane insisted.

Byakuya firmly shook his head, chin drooping as he cried out against the discomfort in his nether regions. The pressure he'd begun to feel as the head came closer and closer to emerging was immense, to the point where he actually felt almost _numb_, of all things. As if someone had injected him with Living World Novocain.

Perhaps it was a good thing Renji wasn't here. The redhead was known for his lack of ability to keep quiet, and the taichou would have felt much guiltier for killing him than he would for killing Mihane and Rikichi, who were making a perfect nuisance of themselves by demanding that he keep pushing when his body clearly said 'NO!'.

Shuuhei said nothing and kept his eye resolutely on the dark thing that had begun to appear, hoping fervently that he was right and it really was the head. If it was something else that wasn't supposed to be there, there wouldn't really be anything he could do. As it continued to emerge even after the taichou had ceased pushing, the features started to become more discernable, and Shuuhei couldn't contain the wide grin that arched across his face when he began to see first the forehead, and then the ears and eyebrows emerge.

"It's definitely the head!"

"I… want… to see," Byakuya continued to ignore his subordinates' protests and reached for the cloak, pulling it aside despite the fact that he was left completely bare.

Rikichi groaned and looked away, while Mihane politely ducked her head and covered her eyes. Shuuhei raised his eyebrows but said nothing, and Rin followed Rikichi's example and faced the wall.

Byakuya could have cared less. He was too zeroed in on the slimy, mucous-covered _thing_ emerging from his own body.

'_My baby. That's my baby__,'_ were the only words that managed to form out of the complex jumble of thoughts and feelings that began to overwhelm him, before the pain in his pelvis spiked and he fell back with a yelp.

"Taichou!" Both Mihane and Rikichi cried, forgetting their embarrassment immediately as they tried to lift him so he could sit up again. His eyes were squeezed shut and he was panting hard and practically wailing. Every time they tried to let go so he could bear down freely, he simply started to lay back again, refusing to curl up and push.

"Stop! I can't, I can't!" he kept shaking his head. "It's too much!"

"What's too much?" Hisagi demanded, taking his attention away from the baby for a moment to find out what was making its parent distressed.

"Pain. Right above the groin. Feels like a zanpakutou stabbing me every time I try to push," the noble groaned.

_:The baby's shoulders are caught on your pelvis. It hasn't opened enough to let them through__, and they're pressing on a nerve,: _Senbonzakura's tentative voice supplied. It was the first time the zanpakutou spirit had spoken since Byakuya had taken the pregnancy test hours earlier, and the noble felt another stab of guilt almost as intense as he'd felt over Renji not being in attendance.

_:Sen… what I said before…__ last winter… I was wrong… Please, say whatever you like! I need you…:_

A warm rush filled him as Senbonzakura's reiatsu flooded his veins like a soothing balm, much like the warmth of a hot drink on a cold winter's day. The pain was still there, but Byakuya still sighed in contentment as his zanpakutou's mind fully touched his once again.

_:I'm sorry…: _he whispered, knowing the spirit had forgiven him, but feeling he needed to say the words anyway. He owed Senbonzakura that much, after he'd callously ordered the zanpakutou spirit away during the previous winter for insisting something wasn't right with his health. Looking back, he felt a rush of self-loathing as he realized his relationship with his zanpakutou wasn't the only thing he'd jeopardized. Had he listened and gotten himself checked out back then, Unohana would have discovered the pregnancy and he wouldn't have wound up in his current predicament.

_:No, you have every right to your privacy,:_ Senbonzakura said gently. _:I bent the rules as much as I could, but it doesn't change the fact that we're not supposed to pry like I did without permission. I'm your friend, not your keeper.:_

_:You're much more than that, Sen. And if you'll forgive the stubborn fool you have for a shinigami, I'm going to need you to interfere as much as you can. Whatever you sense, we need to know it! I don't know if I can get through this without some idea of what's going on.:_

_:Of course__!:_

Byakuya smiled softly despite the pain, eliciting puzzled looks from his companions. "Senbonzakura informs me he can to some extent let us know what's going on. He says that the pain I'm feeling now is coming from the baby's shoulders being stuck on the pelvic bone."

Rikichi, Mihane and Shuuhei exchanged worried glances.

"Can't you just push harder?" Rikichi asked.

Byakuya was about to answer when the next contraction came on. He tried to lean forward and push, but the sharp stab of the baby's shoulders against his innards caused him to reflexively lean back and straighten his body out, sabotaging the opportunity to push the baby further along. Obviously it wasn't going to be so simple.

Rikichi cleared his throat nervously, before making a suggestion. "Um, Taichou? I don't want to see you in more pain, but for the sake of the baby not staying stuck, would it help if I sat behind you and helped keep you forward so you can concentrate just on pushing?"

Byakuya was not enthused about being denied his means of reducing the pain, but the baby couldn't stay as it was and theoretically the torso was supposed to be the difficult part to get out. Reluctantly, he nodded his assent, and leaned on Mihane while Rikichi positioned himself so the noble was sitting between his legs, Byakuya's torso resting on his chest.

The unseated officer dug his own heels into the ground for stability, and sat up straight, forcing Byakuya's body to stay at least at 90 degrees.

The noble groaned as the next contraction built. When it hit, the stabbing, knifelike pain was almost more than he could bear. He screamed as he threw himself resolutely into bearing down, praying with everything he had that the shoulders would move soon.

But as the minutes ticked by, a grim fear settled into the pits of everyone's stomach. Two hours after Byakuya had resumed pushing, the baby still hadn't budged.

Tears streaming down his face, voice hoarse from his constant screaming, back and pelvis in utter agony, Byakuya threw himself into the contraction with everything he had.

He was terrified. The baby should have been born by then, and yet for whatever reason it was still wedged right where it had been since its head had emerged. Both Shuuhei and Mihane had tried to reach in and see if they couldn't work the shoulders free themselves, both to no avail. Now the suffering birth parent was nearing the very ends of his strength, collapsing back against Rikichi between every tortured effort.

Byakuya no longer cared about his family, or the reaction of his peers or lover. He just wanted to be home. He wanted to be somewhere safe that he didn't have to worry about being discovered by the enemy while he gave birth. He wanted to be with a Fourth Division healer (preferably Unohana) so he could get proper, knowledgeable care. He wanted to be somewhere that _someone_ would know how to get his baby out of him before it perished. He wanted his lover with him to comfort and reassure him.

But thanks to his pride and his foolishness, none of that was possible.

'_It's my curse! The curse that took my mother away as she bore me. The one that killed my father in that hollow attack. The one that took Hisana because she wasn't the kind of person I was supposed to love. __And now it's going to take my baby! It's my fault! The baby's going to die and it's my fault! I'm a murderer; I can't even bring my own child into the world alive! No, not just my child—Renji's! It's over; he'll never forgive me for this… I'll never forgive me…'_

He dissolved into agonized sobs as the long hours of exertion and weariness finally caught up with him. After going for days without sustenance his body was at the last of its reserves, and it was beginning to give out on him. Dimly he could hear the cries of dismay from his companions as they desperately tried to rouse him. He paid them little heed as darkness closed in on him.

'_If I die… my only regret is I'll never get to hand Renj__i his child for the first time. The baby's spirit will rejoin the cycle of death and rebirth, but I'll be sent to hell for infanticide. I'll never get to see either of them again! It's nothing less than I deserve, for what I've done… But I wish things had been different. I wish Renji and I had gotten the chance to start a family together. I'd even go through this again so he could experience one of his children coming into the world, if only I could live out my life with him and our little ones in return…"_

_:Oh, Byakuya, please don't give up!: _Senbonzakura begged, he feeling better than anyone else the impending doom closing in on them as the next contraction hit, and the noble didn't even have the strength to attempt to sit up and push if he wanted to.

_:I'm sorry, Sen.: _Byakuya whispered.

_:NO! NO, NO, NO, NO! You can't do this! __I won't let you!: _Senbonzakura shrieked in outrage. _:If we die in childbed, I'll never forgive you! I'll spend the rest of eternity kicking your ass if we do!:_

_:It's nothing less than I deserve. I'm cursed. Everything I touch, everything I care for, dies. My own body nurtured a baby for months only to force it out prematurely and then deny it freedom before it could even take its first breaths. I put a seated officer, two unseated shinigami, and a pregnant acting captain in mortal peril, and I can't even get them out of it or protect them. I deserve to die, and I deserve to spend the rest of eternity condemned,: _the noble's fading voice said tonelessly.

Senbonzakura growled. _:That's it! You are _not_ cursed, and I'm going to find a way to get you and your child out of this alive to prove it to you. You have a wonderful man waiting for you back home who loves you, a sister who'd be crushed if the only family she's ever had left her, and a child to look forward to raising. Those deaths were unfortunate, but they weren't your fault! So shut up and be ready to relay whatever I need you to relay to Hisagi!:_

Byakuya was too exhausted and far gone to argue, though he didn't fail to notice the extremely uncomfortable feeling of eyes peering into every corner of his body as Senbonzakura frantically scanned him.

_:Dammit!: _the zanpakutou snapped after a few minutes. _:With your reiatsu held back, I can hardly make out anything! Your hips haven't pulled far enough apart to let the baby through, and there's no more room for them to stretch! There's also not enough muscle power in that temporary birth canal or the womb for you to push the baby out like you are.:_

_:I told you, I'm cursed.: _Byakuya murmured, hardly conscious.

Senbonzakura glared at him, before the fading noble got the mental impression that the spirit had turned away from him and plopped down to sit cross-legged. A feeling of fondness ghosted through him. It was Senbonzakura's thinking pose.

The spirit stayed as he was only for a few moments, before leaping up and whirling on his master, actually managing to startle Byakuya enough that he came back to semi-consciousness. The franticpleading of his team mates ghosted across his ears.

"_Taichou, you have to wake up! Please!"_

"Taichou you can't give up! Please don't make me have to go back to the division and tell Abarai Fukutaichou we lost you! I can't do it, please don't make me!"

"_Kuchiki Taichou, you're scaring us! Please, come back for the baby at least!"_

"Don't you dare make me break my promise to Renji, Kuchiki Byakuya!"

_:Byakuya! I've figured it out! It's the seal! Get one of them to take off the seal! Your reiatsu needs to be free to help your body change enough to deliver the baby! Tell them to free you!:_

Hope flitted briefly through him, quickly followed by doubt. _:But without it, my reiatsu might go out of control. If it does there's nothing stopping it from tearing down the barriers around the cave and exposing us.:_

_:How could that be more important than saving you and the baby so you can both go home to Renji? At least if we're alive we have a chance at running away! We can just find another hideout until Seiretei comes for us. Come on! Do you really want to give up and accept hell as your fate? I would expect the Soul King to be merciful to those who at least try!:_

Still convinced he and the baby were doomed and unwilling to get his hopes up, Byakuya nevertheless consented to at least try to relay the message. It couldn't hurt not to, and for all the good years of partnership he and Senbonzakura had shared, he wasn't about to refuse his zanpakutou's last request.

Focusing with everything he had, he distantly felt his lips move, and thought he'd felt the vibrations of his vocal chords, but he was too out of it to be sure. It was a surprise to him then, as barely a moment later he felt the barrier confining his energy disintegrate. The rush of the pent up force bursting outwards felt like a breath of fresh air after a plastic bag has been lifted off of one's head.

Bloodshot grey eyes opened to see four relieved faces peering down at him.

"Oh, thank goodness. We thought we'd lost you," Mihane exhaled, looking like she'd come too close for comfort to a heart attack.

"Good thing you realized that seal was hurting you, or we might have," Rin grinned.

Byakuya shook his head, not bothering to pick it up off of Rikichi's shoulder. "Thank Senbonzakura. He figured it out."

"We will, after we get this baby out. Think you have it in you for one more try?" Shuuhei asked, still kneeling between Byakuya's legs, cradling the babe's head in his hands.

Byakuya stared at him incredulously, scarcely wanting to believe it wasn't already too late. "You mean… it's alive?"

Shuuhei nodded, smiling knowingly at him. "So far as I can tell. If you're willing to fight for it, that is. But then again, fighting for someone else's welfare it the only kind of fighting I've ever encouraged."

Byakuya hung his head for a moment, and brushed away the moisture that had begun to gather in his eyes. His baby wasn't dead yet, and the releasing of the seal on his reiatsu had given him a second wind. Hisagi and Senbonzakura were right. The time to give up hadn't come yet.

"Rikichi, if you could lend me your support again?"

"Hai!"

"Then let's get this over with. Though I will warn you—I can't say for certain that I'll be able to maintain control. If my reiatsu flares again, we might have to make a run for it, and find another shelter."

"Don't worry about that now, Kuchiki Taichou. The baby's our first priority," Shuuhei said.

The noble met his eyes squarely. "It's Byakuya."

Shuuhei looked surprised for a brief moment, then acceptance stole across his face and he nodded. "Alright then, Byakuya. On the next contraction, push!"

The taichou nodded, and was pleased to note another contraction was already building. When it peaked he bore down with everything he had, channeling his reiatsu into the effort.

"That's it, come on!" Hisagi cried, as the baby's shoulders finally shifted.

The pain was just as terrible as before, but Byakuya stubbornly kept at it, yelling and crying openly as he pushed, and pushed, and pushed. The sensation of trying to work the baby's torso through his pelvis felt as though he were being torn in half, though the feeling of being stabbed wasn't as acute anymore. He could feel the little one shifting, slowly but surely. Distantly he felt his reiatsu building, and Senbonzakura desperately trying to help keep it in check. He kept going regardless, wishing the child would move faster. Twenty minutes later, his second wind was waning, and just as fear began to take a hold of him again, he felt the blessed final shift of the baby's shoulders. Uncaring of the likely consequences of his actions, he threw all of his remaining reserves into one final push, screaming as the pressure increased until he was certain his nether regions would be reduced to nothing but a single gaping, ragged hole. His reiatsu flared, blasting outwards and knocking Mihane and Rin to the ground. Rikichi was thrown back against the sand, knocked senseless for a few moments. It was the greatest relief when Byakuya felt the shoulders finally come free, and the rest of the body slipped out half a push later.

Bonelessly he slumped backwards against Rikichi, who had barely recovered enough to catch him.

'_I did it__… I did it…'_

**~*~Las Noches~*~**

"My, my… I wonder who that could be," Gin questioned rhetorically, as the impressive reiatsu spike registered on their radar, originating amusingly close to the arrancar stronghold.

Aizen didn't deign to answer, instead simply commanding, "Find them, Gin."

"As you command," the silver haired traitor smiled wickedly. He left his consol and made his way towards the door.

"And please take experiment 17 with you," Aizen added absently, almost like an afterthought.

"Why certainly, Aizen-sama," Gin said, disappearing down the hall.

Aizen ignored him, staring fixatedly at the screen in front of him, and the coordinates of that powerful flare.

"There's been a conundrum weighing on my mind lately, and I believe, Kuchiki Byakuya, that you've unwittingly provided me with exactly the sort of solution I need…"

**~*~TBC…~*~**

**A/N: Wohoo! The baby's here! I know some people are going to want to kill me for it being more of a teaser than anything else, but at 25 pages, I think this chapter's seen enough. This part of the story has taken the record for being the single most difficult scene I've tackled to date, so I hope the final product was at least worth the wait. Subsequent chapters have been outlined forever, so RL willing, I think I'll be able to get back to my normal once-weekly updates. I hope. ****Next time- the new arrival is properly introduced, Gin is being, well, Gin, and the Seiretei makes progress! But will it be in time before our poor Hueco Mundo team gets a nasty surprise visit? Stay tuned to find out!**

**In other news, t****he previous chapter has become the record holding most reviewed chapter yet! Thank you all so much for your wonderful thoughts and feedback.**

**Unsigned Review Responses****: **

**Anon**- I know it's been a long haul, but that's to be expected with a story that goes through a day-by-day chronicle of events. Part of adding realism is tackling the frustration of waiting for the characters, and it was warned that for males the labor process would be twice as long. At least the baby's here now though! ^_^

**Melee**- A lot of people write Shuuhei as the seme, which is fine! But one of the best yaoi writing tips I ever came across was from a real life homosexual, who said that the concept of seme/uke was strictly a samurai-culture thing, while elsewhere top or bottom is more of an anything-goes-do-as-you-like thing. Which I always felt seemed more real to me. Watching the anime and reading the manga, I can't justify Izuru as the always-uke. He's quiet and sorrowful looking, but never has he been anyone's damsel in distress (despite the hell Gin's treachery put him through). And he was never more badass than when he cut off Abirama's head while the guy was asking for mercy. But what cinched it for me was in the Zanpakutou arc where he rescued Shuuhei from Kazeshini. I just love watching him be all devoted and caring over Hisagi! So yea, I see Izuru and Shuuhei as being so on-par with each other, I think they'd take turns.

**Kwanja-niim**- Sorry for the wait, but more's here!

**Jayne**- Oh I so agree! Those two are going to flip, that's for sure! But as for the specifics… still working on that! It's going to be tough, figuring out just which of the possible ways they could react is the most appropriate. Let's just hope it doesn't give me as much trouble as this last chapter did!

**Random Anonymous Reviewer**- Indeed, Squad Six is getting hit hard in this fic. But I have faith in their ability to tough it out. ^_^ And yea, poor Renji. I couldn't justify him openly bursting into tears, but he's a guy who cares a lot about people he's devoted to, so things were gonna get to him somehow. You are correct that Yachiru and Kenpachi are not very talkative, but get them in just the right situation, and they're not shy about voicing their opinion either. The inspiration for Yachiru being more explanatory first came from her pestering Kenpachi over not seeing Ichigo off when he left Soul Society at the end of the Save Rukia arc. There it was hinted that Yachiru isn't so much the character who doesn't ever speak in full sentences, but more than she doesn't if it's not necessary. This was confirmed in more recent episodes, most specifically in the Sword Fiends arc where she describes how she and Kenpachi took so long to return to the Seiretei to help, and in episode 315, where she discovers that a wandering member of the 11th Division has become a hollow, and must explain to him that he's the monster he's been hunting all along. We know that Yachiru absolutely adores Byakuya, so her being more talkative was simply my way of showing that she's unsettled over the whole thing. Fighting with Renji to help him chill out was also a round-about way for Kenpachi to do the same. He's a fighting man, so it's easier for him to find a target to lash out at (under the guise of helping out an old squadmate), than sit and introspect over the fact that a respected rival of his might not be around for him to pit his skills against anymore. I know there's still a few mistakes I need to go back and correct. I don't know why that word's still being a nuisance when I've never had a problem with it before, but thanks for pointing it out. As for Senbonzakura, I hope this chapter clears things up a bit. Remember the "you talk too much" thing? Yea, that invoked a mood swing, lol! And months of Sen being ordered to be quiet. Poor Sen.

Actually, Byakuya's name means 'White Night', and yes I checked it with a native speaker. (One of my language teachers in Tokyo, actually.) I asked if there was any kanji that could be used to make it mean 'White Question' and they said no, so I'm not sure which source translated it that way. Anyway, I love the idea of continuing with the whole color-name thing, but I've had an idea in mind since the beginning to stick it to those pesky council members, so I'm thinking I'll promise to find a really awesome color name for my next Bya-preg. (Actually, I think I may already have. *grin*)

**Katz**- Belated Congrats on graduating! I agree, an Izuru/Shuu baby is something I'd love to see more of, and as I've watched the anime, I get more and more attached to Izuru as the seme (though I think with their personalities they'd have to switch off). He's always being Shuuhei's knight in shining armor, and it's just TOO CUTE! Must see more! As for the connection between Renji and Byakuya, it's not very obvious to them because so far as they know, Byakuya hasn't shown any such interest in Renji, and of course there's the whole stereotype that anything can piss off a pregnant person, even if no one understands the logic behind their anger but them. Though, it'll all come out soon enough, hehe. And yes, Rukia's reaction will indeed probably send Renji into hiding if he's smart, lol!

**Aki-** Aww, thanks! The child's name and gender have actually been picked out for a while now, but thanks for the input! (Some fics I'm not so sure, so votes from readers always helps.) I'm glad Byakuya's reactions seemed okay to you. I didn't want to make him a wuss, but labor pains hurt! So both they and the hormones had to get to him sometime.

**Anon**- Wow, front to back, huh? Lol, even I haven't managed that. Glad you like it.

**Firebirdever**- Thanks! Sorry for the long wait!

**Ryo**- Ah, yes, the drama never ends. (lol, blame the muse.)

**Manga-Yaoi-Fan**- Woah, every mpreg? That's one up on me (mostly because some of them are too ridiculous to get past the first chap, lol!).

**Penn Xerxes Rokudo**- Indeed. The warning signs were there, but not supposed to be anywhere as eye-catching as Byakuya's. Comedic scenes are a little tough for me, so I'm glad you like it.


	11. Chapter 11

**What to Expect When You're Not Expecting**

**Author: WhipOfLightHeartOfSword**

**Rating: M/R**

**World: Semi-AU, Orihime wasn't captured and the Fake Karakura Town arc didn't happen. The Winter War continues. **

**Pairings: Renji/Byakuya, Izuru/Shuuhei (more to be announced)**

**Feedback: Yes please, but no flames.**

**Warnings: Mpreg, Yaoi, childbirth, medical themes**

**Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, Shonen Jump, etc., not me. This is a not-for-profit fanwork. **

**(For full warnings/disclaimers please see Chapter 1.)**

**A/N: Finally! Okay, so it took me way longer than a week to finish this, but at least six weeks and change is better than five months. Right? At any rate, this chapter decided to be annoying and not want to come together, and school was getting in the way horribly, but a recent change in my schedule looks to severely lighten up my workload from now until the end of the semester. That's not to say I'm not going to be studying like crazy, but it does mean that I'm expecting to have at least one more chapter (more if I can) up before I hop on that plane home for the holidays. At least then the only interruptions I'll have are the times I'm hanging out with friends or family. **

**For those of you who don't check my profile but are interested in reading future stories of mine (including a sequel to this fic), you may want to! From now until the 16th of Dec. I'll be keeping my new poll open so readers can choose the new WIPs they want to see me post after the semester ends. There are 18 bunnies chosen from the 100+ on my list, so I can get a few more out of my head and posted for your enjoyment. So please, feel free to stop on over, take a look, and if you see a bunny you like—vote!**

**Lastly-the italics on this site are still giving me problems by removing the spaces between the words. I think I re-edited them all, but if I missed one I'd love it if someone pointed it out to me so I can fix it. Thanks!  
**

**~*~Chapter 10~*~**

When most people think of children they imagine cute little cherub faces, chubby limbs, and healthy-colored skin. The scrawny limbed, mucous covered, grey-skinned, squished-face _thing_ that had eased its way into Shuuhei's hands with Byakuya's final efforts was decidedly _not_ in keeping with that description. Slightly dazed from the backlash of having to withstand the taichou's final reiatsu flare, he decided that for the moment it was enough that the little one seemed to have at least come through the ordeal intact, and that he should be more concerned with seeing to its needs than critiquing its looks. As he balanced the babe in one arm and began toweling the fluids away with his cloak, the fukutaichou had to admit to himself that despite not knowing _exactly_ how a newborn child should look—having only the vaguest expectations himself—the fact that it at least seemed to be correctly formed was of some comfort.

One thing that did strike him though, as he cleaned the little body, was the baby's size. Personally, he could hardly believe this so-called 'little one' had managed to fit through such a small space on its way into the world, which thus made the baby seem 'large' so far as his perspective was concerned. The insidious little voice that kept reminding him it was only a matter of months before _he _would be called upon to help his own child achieve a similar feat tempted him to pray that his own baby would be of similar size, as he couldn't imagine being able to squeeze anything bigger through his poor pelvis.

On the other side of the coin however was the sobering fact that he had no idea what size baby he _should_ be looking at, which meant that despite his feelings that the baby didn't seem abnormally tiny, the reality might be that the lack of baby belly on Byakuya had meant that the child really was too small. If that was true, then he just hoped that it wouldn't be a factor that would threaten the little one's chances of surviving, and so far as his own kid was concerned he'd just shut up and deal with whatever he had to when the time came for the sake of he or she being born healthy.

But that 'blessed' event was months off, while this child and his father's problems were the here and now. And right now, 'not out of the woods yet' was a never-ending understatement in describing their ongoing situation.

Despite these shadowed thoughts, the fukutaichou couldn't help but widen his eyes in astonishment and joy as the blood and mucous came away and revealed the skin beneath, and the very unexpected markings covering it.

"Well, whadya know…" he said softly, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

'_Renji, you sly dog!'_

"What is it?" Mihane, still shaky and barely recovered from being hit by Byakuya's reiatsu, scooted closer and tried to see what had Shuuhei so amused.

"Hold on one moment," having been rubbing at the baby for the last couple of minutes, Shuuhei was beginning to grow alarmed as he noticed he wasn't getting any response. Now squirming, no crying… Weren't babies supposed to start screeching right after they came out of the womb? Suddenly frightened that the child might be in trouble, the fukutaichou began frantically rubbing at the tiny chest.

'_Come __on,__ you __can __do__ it__… __Please!__' _he pleaded mentally, refusing to say anything that might cause alarm unless he was sure it was called for. Byakuya was still slumped against Rikichi, panting and half-unconscious from his efforts, and Shuuhei didn't want to put him through any more stress if he could avoid it. But inside his fear and dread were mounting.

How could he look Byakuya in the eye and tell him that after all they'd just gone through, the child hadn't made it anyway? How could he go home and tell one of his best friends that he'd had and lost a child before he'd even known about it?

He bit his lip and begged whoever was listening to please not make him have to do that.

Unsure of what a healer would do to stimulate a newborn, and afraid he might hurt the tiny being if he tried patting it on the back like he would a choking adult, Shuuhei simply settled for continuing to rub the small chest, hoping that would be enough.

Mihane watched closely, having realized what was going on the moment she saw the still, silent infant, and the desperation in the fukutaichou's eyes. Her heart was in her throat as she watched him persistently try to get some sign of life out of the little one, pleading silently that it wasn't already too late.

A few seconds of nauseating worry later, the child finally began to stir. A soft whimper emerged from the tiny mouth, followed by a clipped squawk.

"That's it, get angry at me. Let's see if you've got half the lung power your dad has when he's upset."

A scratchy wail rose up and echoed off the walls of the cave.

"Now that's what I'm talking about! Keep going, you might even put Zabimaru to shame!" Shuuhei praised.

"Put Zabimaru…" Mihane stared at him and the child with wide-eyed astonishment. The fukutaichou grinned, and shifted both his cloak and the babe so she could see.

She gasped and broke into a wide grin, putting a hand over her mouth for a moment as her eyes misted and she couldn't decide whether to burst out laughing, or start crying with joy. "I don't believe it!"

"Believe what?" Rikichi asked, peering curiously at them. Byakuya still lay bonelessly against him, lightly gasping for breath exhaustedly. His head rested against his subordinate's shoulder, skin soaked in sweat and tears, and his hair was damp and disheveled. Beside them Rin was hunched over rubbing his throbbing temples.

Bloodshot, tear-darkened grey eyes cracked open, as the combined sound of voices and the infant's crying brought Byakuya back from the edge of passing out. He weakly turned his head towards the sounds, energy from some reserve he didn't think he could possibly still have flooding him as the pain faded, and was replaced by the desperate, unbridled urge to see his baby with his own eyes, to confirm for himself that he or she was alright.

Weakly he tried to sit up, but Rikichi quickly put an arm around his shoulders to stop him from struggling. "Easy, Taichou. Just stay there."

"No, I want my child," Byakuya unsuccessfully tried to get the restraining limb off of him, his exhaustion making it easy for even an unseated officer to hold him down with little trouble.

"It's alright, I'll bring the baby to you," Shuuhei reassured him, overhearing despite the continuous screams. Mindful of the still-attached umbilical cord, he carefully shuffled around Byakuya's leg.

Gently he placed the screeching bundle onto Byakuya's chest, guiding the quivering arms as they reached up and wrapped around the tiny form.

"Kuchiki Byakuya, I am absolutely thrilled and honored to say that you and Abarai Renji have a son," he said, eyes misting as he found himself blessed with the unexpected privilege of presenting his friend's firstborn to the child's birth father.

"Wait… did you just say…" Rikichi stared wide-eyed and openmouthed in absolute shock at the dark-haired bundle as he was handed over to the taichou. A dark-haired bundle whose forehead and outer arms from the shoulder to the wrist were covered with _very_ familiar black tribal markings. Next to Byakuya, Rin too looked as though his eyes were about to pop out of his head.

There was no mistaking where _those_ birthmarks came from.

Swallowing, Rikichi closed his mouth and turned to Rin, his voice tight and calm as he asked "Rin, could you take my place and hold Kuchiki Taichou up for a moment? …Rin?"

Startled, the scientist blinked as it registered that he was being spoken to. Nodding numbly, he put and arm between Rikichi's chest and Byakuya's back, supporting the noble's upper body as the Squad Six shinigami eased out from behind him. Once he was clear Rin scooted into place, grateful for the mound of sand offering his back support as the new father's weight rested against him.

Rikichi got up and walked a few steps away from father and son, watched curiously by all but Captain Kuchiki, before his fist shot up in the air, his feet left the ground, and he let out a huge whoop.

"Abarai Fukutaichou's a father! Yes! Whoohoo! Abarai Fukutaichou's a daddy!" he jumped around in excitement, crowing triumphantly. Rin, Mihane and Hisagi all laughed, relief and elation flooding every one of them that finally, after all the fear and drama, there was something truly happy and joyous to be celebrated.

The only one not laughing and smiling was the birth father of the little miracle.

The moment the baby was in his arms, Byakuya found himself overwhelmed at the emotions that flooded him. He hardly noticed when Rikichi switched places with Rin. In a fraction of a second his entire world had shrunken down to nothing but the tiny being he held. After all that pain, all that agony, all that fear of the myriad of things that could have gone wrong—that _should_ have gone wrong—he was here. His son was here, and he was okay. Tears began to flow again unchecked from the noble's already sore and puffy eyes. He couldn't find it in him to care, nor did he think he could stop them if he tried.

The baby had all four limbs and all ten fingers and toes. His face was smushed and his skull somewhat cone-shaped, but Byakuya was willing to forgive that considering the tiny space he'd just been squeezed through. His blue-grey skin was starting to turn pink, and he was shrieking like a banshee. At that moment in time, the noble didn't give a damn who was watching or not watching him. He clutched the child as close as possible, uncaring of the ringing in his ears as the infant made good use of his new lungs. Shaking lips pressed a kiss to the sticky wisps of black hair plastered to the small skull, before he pressed his forehead gently to the babe's, hand cradling the back of the tiny head, and sobbed hysterically.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that, letting the pent-up terror and dread that something horrible might have happened bleed out of him. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew they weren't out of danger yet, but for now nothing else seemed to matter beyond the simple, undeniable fact that his baby boy was alive. After all the loss and grief he'd weathered throughout his life, he felt as though he could have drowned in the sheer relief that flooded him at that moment, eclipsing everything else.

If in all his long life there was just one experience that could end in joy instead of sorrow… one moment that he would rejoice instead of mourn… one opportunity that he was not left staggering under the crushing heartbreak of loss… he could not be more grateful that this was it.

Eventually the emotional tsunami subsided, and he raised his head to meet four pairs of bewildered and concerned eyes.

"Kuchiki Taichou… are you okay?" Mihane questioned softly, sounding as if she were afraid to ask.

Byakuya nodded, the corners of his mouth finally curling upwards in a soft, tired smile. "I am now."

"But what's wrong?" Rikichi asked, completely confused that the noble would greet his new baby with what to all of them looked like heartbroken anguish. "You were crying as though someone had died."

Byakuya sighed, resting his head on Rin's collarbone as he gazed down lovingly at his firstborn, who had finally stopped shrieking and snuggled peacefully in his arms.

"Because I have never—_ever_—been so afraid of death or of losing someone, as I was trying to bring this baby into the world."

Everyone stared solemnly at the child in his arms for a moment, not one of them able to think of an appropriate response. Because there wasn't one. Every person in that cave knew that no matter how hard they had tried, there would have been almost nothing they could have done had anything gone seriously wrong. Even the removal of the forgotten seal on Byakuya's powers was nothing more than a basic quick-fix for anyone suffering reiatsu depletion. Had anything that required more serious and specialized medical attention come up at any point in time, they would have been helpless. They could have been forced to watch as either parent or child was taken from them by an entity far beyond any of their control; the very force they themselves represented. And every single one of them couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and offer a word of gratitude to whatever benevolent power had chosen to show them grace and spare the lives of both father and son.

The quiet, solemn moment ended when Byakuya flinched, his brow furrowing in bewilderment as his eyes finally came away from his newborn and stared down between his legs.

"What is it, Byakuya?" Shuuhei ventured to use the noble's given name for the first time since the baby had finally come out of him.

Byakuya looked at him in confusion. "I feel like I need to push again, but… there can't be another baby, can there?"

Mihane giggled, drawing the attention of the other four shinigami to her. "I may not know many facts about childbirth, but I do know this one. That's not another baby your body's telling you to push out. I can't believe you managed to hide the one, considering your stomach stayed as small as it did. I think I might die of shock if somehow there was another little one in there. What your body's trying to say is that the placenta, the birth sack the baby grew in, is ready to come out now that it's not needed anymore. Once the baby's born it starts to break down and if it's not expelled you could get seriously infected."

"Ah," Byakuya didn't know if he liked the sound of that, but it made sense.

"We also need to tie off and cut the umbilical cord," Shuuhei said.

"But what do we tie it with?" Rin asked. "We don't have any clamps or sterile thread."

Rikichi chuckled. "Rin, nothing in this whole cave that we can use for the baby is sterile. And there's nothing we can do to sterilize it. All we have is kidou, and that would just reduce whatever we wanted to sterilize to ash. We'll just have to figure out something to get the cord tied off so the baby doesn't bleed, and not be surprised when the first thing Unohana does is give him a bath in infant-safe disinfectant."

It was not a pleasant thing to admit, but the young shinigami was right. Byakuya was loathe to let anything come anywhere near the baby he'd fought so hard to give birth to that could get the child sick, but they couldn't leave the umbilical cord as it was and they couldn't cut it until it was tied. The baby had already been wiped down with Shuuhei's cloak, which in its present state would never have been allowed anywhere near a Fourth Division delivery room in a million years. And anything they swaddled him in after would only be cleaner by virtue of the fact that it wasn't covered in mucus and amniotic fluids.

"It can't be helped," he admitted, fighting the urge to push as he had no idea if it was safe for his son to still be attached to the birth sack when it came out. "What do we have to use?"

"My hair tie, maybe? No wait, I've got the perfect idea!" Rin exclaimed. Byakuya hissed at him as the loud noise made the baby wake and start fussing.

"Sorry," he said, blushing sheepishly. "But can somebody switch places with me?"

"Here, I will," Rikichi replied. "I've stayed behind you throughout the whole thing so far, Taichou. Might as well see it through to the end."

"I'm flattered," Byakuya said dryly. There had been a time when he would have been mortified had anyone made such a joke about his situation in front of him, but after having spent hours naked, spread-eagled, screaming and crying as his subordinates watched him birth a baby, he doubted if his idea of 'dignity' would ever be the same again.

Everyone chuckled, and Rikichi once again situated himself in his place as the noble's support. Fortunately the baby chose to settle down to sleep again, so they weren't treated to a second round of wailing for the time being.

"So what's your idea, Rin?" Mihane asked the question on everyone's mind.

"This," Rin jogged over to the shredded form of his survey module, and reached into the exposed components. Giving a few tugs, he pulled out several inches of wire. Carefully, he slit and peeled away the sheathing. Then he lit a small kidou flame and ran it over the wire, sterilizing it as much as possible.

"Rin, you're a genius!" Shuuhei praised.

"I agree," Byakuya said, nodding his approval.

The scientist blushed and brought the wire back over to the group. He knelt and reached out a hand towards the umbilical cord laying across the top of Byakuya's stomach, but paused and met the taichou's gaze, wordlessly asking for his permission.

Byakuya nodded his consent, and Rin gently lifted the cord. Choosing a spot a few inches from the little boy's body, he folded the cord into a small loop and wrapped the wire around it as tightly as he could, wincing until he realized that it wasn't bothering the baby. Breathing a sigh of relief that it hadn't provoked another round of crying, he sat back.

"So who's going to cut it?"

Byakuya gazed at the cord regretfully. "Traditionally it would be Renji's right as the sire to sever the baby's tie from me, but his absence can not be helped. However, I think he will forgive me if I ask you to do it, Shuuhei. First of all you are his friend, and secondly you were both brave and bold enough to confront me with your suspicion I was pregnant and in labor, and to catch the child when he came free. I think Renji would agree that you are the best substitute."

Shuuhei was deeply touched. "It would be my honor," he said huskily.

"We'll have to use a zanpakutou. We can run a kidou flame over it first like Rin did with the wire," Rikichi said.

"Byakuya, I could use yours if you'd like Senbonzakura to have the honor," Shuuhei suggested.

Byakuya summoned his connection to the zanpakutou spirit.

_:Of __course __I__'__ll __accept __the__ task. __Tell __Hisagi __he__ may __wield __me.:_Senbonzakura replied warmly.

_:Thank__ you, __Senbonzakura.:_ Byakuya said, relieved that the zanpakutou hadn't gone back to being irritated with him now that the birth and immediate threat on his life was over.

_:These last months might have been rough for us, but as I've said before; I'll never forsake you. You gave me your apology, and I accept it. Let this put the past to rest.:_

Byakuya blinked to keep the tears from returning to his eyes, silently blaming it on hormones.

_:Besides,__ it__'__s __only __right __that __the__ clan __leader__'__s __zanpakutou__ gets__ to __sever __the __clan __heir__'__s __tie __from__ his __birth __parent. __Not __to __mention __that __once __we __get __back __Zabimaru __might __very __well __throw__ a __fit __if __he__'__s __not __allowed __to __cut __the __cord __of__ your __next __child.:_ Senbonzakura added cheekily.

_:If there even is a 'next one'.: _

Honestly. He'd just given birth to one child. Of everyone he knew he'd thought his zanpakutou at least would give him a few years before bringing up the subject of him ever having more offspring. Right now he didn't think he could speculate about such a thing if he tried. He was too tired and sore and overwhelmed from having his first.

Ignoring any further response from the zanpakutou, Byakuya carefully balanced his son in one arm and picked up the blade from where it had been resting at his side.

"He accepts the task," he said simply.

Shuuhei nodded. Standing, he smoothly unsheathed Senbonzakura, gripping taichou's blade with much more care than he would if it was his own. Lighting a kidou-flame in one hand, he ran it down the blade to sterilize it like Rin had the wire. Returning to seiza, he picked up the cord and made a second loop of it near the first, and slipped the blade through. With a quick upward tug, he severed it, and tossed the end still attached to Byakuya down on the sand in between his legs so it wouldn't leak blood onto him. He then wiped Senbonzakura clean and placed it back in its sheath, staring thoughtfully at it as he did.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to see this blade in quite the same way again. Just like I couldn't with Kazeshini when he saved that child in the Rukon," Shuuhei met Byakuya's eyes. "Thank you. It means a lot to have done that for Renji, since he isn't here."

Byakuya simply nodded. "It means a great deal to me to know he has such loyal friends who would stand in for him without question. Besides, you've more than earned it."

Shuuhei blushed. "I really didn't do anything that spectacular except talk back to you, hand you a pregnancy test and sit between your legs for a few hours."

Byakuya waved him off. "Nonsense. You and I both know you've done far more than that. Now, if someone could hold my son, my body really wants to be rid of this 'placenta' thing," as he said the last few words, he couldn't help but squirm a bit as the urge to push again was making him uncomfortable.

Mihane tentatively raised a hand. "Taichou… if I may? That is, if it's alright with you…"

Byakuya gave her a slight smile. "Yes, Mihane. You may hold him."

The young woman gave him a look of absolute wonder, as the noble—with some reluctance—loosened his hold on the baby and placed him in her outstretched arms. She cuddled the small being close, gazing at him in pure delight. "I'm getting to hold my taichou's son…" she whispered. Byakuya found he was touched that she thought it to be such a privilege. Of course prior to this experience the noble in him would have considered it so, but after the events of the last few days his perception had altered quite a bit. The gratitude he felt to all of them went far beyond his and the child's social status. For the devotion and loyalty all four of his companions had shown him throughout the whole ordeal, and continued to show him, it seemed only appropriate that they each get their chance to hold the new life they'd helped him bring into the world.

But that would have to wait, as he bore down once again. Aching muscles screamed in protest, and he squeezed his eyes shut against the discomfort. When the afterbirth slipped from his body it didn't hurt nearly as much as his son's shoulders had, but it was still far from pleasant to his much-abused nether regions.

"Ugh, okay. That somehow bothers me more than anything else we've dealt with," Shuuhei grimaced.

Byakuya opened his eyes and made the mistake of gazing down. The fukutaichou was one hundred percent correct. The bloody mass laying on the sand had to be one of the most disconcerting things he'd ever laid eyes on, and decidedly among the most disgusting. He wanted to be far away from it, and quickly.

"Eww," Rikichi and Rin said simultaneously.

Byakuya's eyes met Shuuhei's and they both nodded.

"Here, Rikichi help me get him up. Let's get him away from this mess."

"Absolutely."

The young shinigami's hands pressed against the back of Byakuya's shoulders, pushing him upright so Rikichi could once again scoot out from behind him. Both he and Shuuhei each put a hand under one of the noble's arms, and heaved him up.

Byakuya tried to help them, tried to stand under his own power, but he quickly found that his body had decided enough was enough. His knees began to buckle, and if it weren't for the two men holding him up, he might have fallen forward on top of the gruesome mess in front of him.

"Easy there, Byakuya. Just lean on us and put one foot in front of the other. We'll worry about keeping you up," Shuuhei said. Byakuya simply nodded his agreement. Even leaning on them, his entire body ached fiercely. The lactic acid buildup in his stomach, legs and back made it impossible to balance on his own, and as they guided him around the afterbirth and over to the other side of the cave, he found himself having to bite his lip to stop from whimpering in pain. Never in all his years as a shinigami—training, and officership combined—had he ever felt so miserably sore and beaten up. Even being stabbed by Shinsou had not left him feeling so completely wretched.

At least back then he'd had the guarantee that he would get a bath.

As if he'd read the taichou's mind, Shuuhei turned to Rin. "Hey, could you get my cloak, and see if Kuchiki Taichou's is still usable?"

Rin nodded and retrieved both cloaks from where they'd been left lying in the sand. Shuuhei took his. "If it's okay with you, Taichou, I'll wipe you down while you lean on Rikichi. Then we'll get you settled.

"That would be fine," the noble replied.

Using the parts of the cloak that weren't covered in fluid from the baby, Shuuhei worked swiftly to get Byakuya's lower half cleaned of sand and body fluids. He frowned when he noticed that the new father was still bleeding from the unhealed birth canal.

"Hey, Mihane?" he called softly, so as not to startle the little one she was cooing at.

"Yes?"

"Is it normal for a birth parent to keep bleeding after the placenta's out?"

Mihane finally took her eyes away from the baby. "I'm not sure. I know too much blood could mean something got torn internally."

"But you don't know how much is too much," the fukutaichou guessed. She nodded solemnly.

Shuhei sighed. "Well, we'll just have to set you up with your lower half on the sand like we did getting ready for your son to be born, and hope this isn't a sign of trouble."

"Indeed," Byakuya certainly hoped he wasn't in more trouble. Things were bad enough with them having no food and water and very little in the way of supplies to begin with. The last thing he needed was to make it through childbirth in one of the worst places he could have imagined for it, only for his life to be threatened by complications after.

"How's his cloak looking, Rin?" the fukutaichou asked the scientist.

"For all the mess that's on the sand, the cloak didn't get anything on it."

"Good, then help me make another sand mound for Kuchiki Taichou to lean on, he looks about ready to fall."

Indeed, the noble felt as though he could sleep for the next week at least. The only thing keeping him up was Rikichi, and the fact that his son still needed his care.

Working together the two pushed sand into another mound to prop his upper body on, as there was no way his abdominal muscles would have anything to do with him trying to sit up for long periods unaided. They then eased him down, and Shuuhei wrapped the cloak around his shoulders and draped it over the tops of his legs.

"Could you also hand me my shitagi and kosode?" Byakuya requested. The fukutaichou nodded, and brought them and Byakuya's obi over. Shrugging off the cloak for a moment, the noble was able to redress in the upper half of his uniform, before replacing the cloak for added warmth. He was feeling chilled as his body cooled down from its exertions and the sweat dried.

As he dressed he noticed his chest felt extremely tender. Curious, he rubbed at it to try and ease the slight discomfort and a couple of white beads of fluid dripped from the nipple. He sighed in resignation. After everything else that had happened, he really couldn't be surprised. As unenthused as he was by the thought of breastfeeding, he tried to console himself with the fact that at least the child would be able to eat.

"Mihane."

His 9th seat looked up and saw he was ready to take his son back. Reluctantly she stood and came over, looking slightly disappointed at having to give the baby back, until the little one began to squirm and fuss. Tiny lips curled back and a loud wail echoed through the cave, making all of them wince and wish the barriers were still intact to keep that sound from reaching the outside. Earlier the boy's crying might have been a relief, but now it was one more thing that might hasten their discovery.

The young woman was startled. "I didn't do it!" she declared reflexively.

"I know," Byakuya had no complaints about how she had handled the child, but the baby hadn't eaten, and though he'd never imagined he might have such nurturing instincts hidden away somewhere, he had a gut feeling that his son was not going to be very patient waiting for his first meal for much longer.

Pulling open his shihakushou, Byakuya cradled his son's head in his hand so he could slip the babe beneath the cloth. Once the tiny lips touched his nipple, he grunted in surprise at how quickly and eagerly they latched on and began sucking. It was a decidedly strange sensation, and not exactly one he enjoyed. His much-battered masculine pride was not at all happy at being put in yet _another_ image damaging position, but what made him particularly self conscious was that he surprisingly _did_feel comforted by the fact that he could nurse the newborn. In a situation where he was unable to provide so much of what a baby should have, being able to at least offer nourishment soothed the guilt a bit, and the last thing he needed was to be made fun of simply because it made him appear maternal.

"Well," Shuuhei's voice made him look up. "You seem to be doing alright. Can't believe you're taking to this so well," the tattooed shinigami came to sit next to him. "I think if it were me I'd just be staring at the kid cluelessly."

Byakuya looked down at his son thoughtfully. "He needs care. It's just like when Soutaichou hands me a mission and tells me to 'figure it out' if I ask him how he'd like me to accomplish it. I don't have a choice; I just have to do the best I can as I go along."

"Makes sense," Shuuhei said. "But please, after he's fed I think it's best if you let us take care of him and you get some rest. I'm worried at the amount of fluids you've lost since we got here, and we still don't know why the senkaimon hasn't been restored. You're going to need sleep if you're going to be up to this parenting thing."

The noble nodded his agreement. "As soon as he's had his fill, I'll trust you to watch him. But before I do, there's the matter of our security that we need to discuss."

Shuuhei ran a hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yea… to be honest, that last reiatsu flare packed quite the knockout punch. I'm thinking it's a good bet our time of being unnoticed is over."

Byakuya nodded grimly. "And that's going to be a problem. Aizen will know where the energy signature originated from, and he won't be long in sending someone after us. Even if we had the reserves to reshield ourselves, all they'd have to do is start firing ceros into the area, or apply kidou-seeking techniques and eventually they'll score a hit."

He let out a long breath and set his mouth. "The reality is that we're too depleted. We can't allow ourselves to be drawn into a fight if we can avoid it. We have to make a run for it and hide somewhere else."

"But you're in no condition to stand, let alone move," Shuuhei stated. "They'll expect us to run and we won't stand a chance…" he trailed off, unwilling to point out the obvious. Byakuya however wasn't in the mood to be so diplomatic about his own condition.

"We won't stand a chance moving at the snail's pace we'd need to for you to support me," he finished.

"We could send someone out to recon for another hideout," Mihane suggested.

Byakuya blinked as his body began to feel weighted and his eyelids drooped. The third wind brought on by his son's need for care was beginning to wane, and he felt the first tendrils of exhaustion creeping in on him. He blinked again and steeled himself against the sensation, determined to keep his mind clear and calculating possible solutions.

He looked down briefly at his contentedly suckling newborn. Despite being the single most unexpected development of the entire disastrous mission—actually, make that 'of his entire life'—and a scandal waiting to happen the moment they reached home, the clan leader was utterly and completely smitten with the surprise miracle he found himself nourishing. True, his family might try to disown him or take the child from him. Sure, Renji could decide he didn't want to be a family man yet and break off their relationship. But to Byakuya, all of that paled in comparison to the immediate threat of his baby either being killed by a hollow, or captured by Aizen. So far as he was concerned, nothing mattered so much as making sure none of those beasts even got so much as the opportunity to even look at his son. And if they managed to anyway, it would only be the briefest of glimpses—he'd make deadly sure of that.

Sleep and exhaustion would have to wait. Before he could relax enough to rest properly, they had to have an effective plan.

His mind tuned back in to his companions in time to hear Rikichi make a suggestion.

"Rin and I could scout, while you get some rest. We can see if there's anyplace suitable around to move to, and because our reiatsu signatures are the lowest of all of us to begin with, we'll have a better chance of staying hidden while we search and getting back again unnoticed. Meanwhile you'll have a seated officer and a fukutaichou to watch your back and the baby in case anything nasty comes along," he said with a nod at Mihane and Shuuhei, before he looked at the scientist for his opinion. "What do you think?"

Rin looked nervous, but he nodded. "Sure, I'll go. I don't like the idea of going back out again, but I don't want to wait around to be captured and I'd be much better at finding caves than fighting Aizen's goons."

"I can't think of anything else we might try" Mihane said, not looking too happy. "Other than stay here and hope no one bothers us or that if we all left at once we'd stay unnoticed for the time it took to find another place to hide."

"Yes, but what then? We'd still need to make the move, and our reiatsu's diminishing by the moment. Every moment we delay the enemy could be closing in on us. We run a greater risk of being found and cornered, you being cut off from us, or all of us being caught trying to leave again after you return," Byakuya countered.

"We can limit our wait time. Say you two go now and make sure to recon for no more than two hours. I think Byakuya needs at least that much rest at minimum before we attempt to go anywhere. After that if you're not back we'll assume something happened to you and make the decision to leave right away or risk another scouting attempt," Shuuhei put in. "I don't want to waste much energy, but I'll use enough to replace the sound-shield kido so the baby at least doesn't alert anyone to where we are while you're out."

Rikichi and Rin both nodded. Rikichi looked to his taichou for confirmation. "Taichou?"

Byakuya let out a slow, thoughtful breath as he scrutinized the young shinigami for a moment. Finally he spoke.

"I don't like it, but it is logical and we don't have any choice. I don't want to admit to being the weakest person here at the moment any more than I wanted to admit I was in labor, but it's true. You finding a new hideout before we abandon this one will at least give me the opportunity to regain a little strength so I'll be able to leave here on my own two feet, if nothing else. Just please, at least pretend you're a Squad Two stealth expert for the time being and keep out of sight."

Rikichi quirked a smile and Rin chuckled.

"I think Soi Fon Taichou would probably laugh herself to death if she saw us, but we'll give it our all, Taichou."

"See to it you do," Byakuya smirked back. "I'd hate to have to tell Renji he's going to have to find a replacement protégé."

At that moment his son finally let go of his nipple and gave a contented hiccup. Turning a gentle smile on his newborn, Byakuya removed him from his shihakushou and tugged the folds of cloth back into place. The infant snuggled against him and dropped off. The noble himself felt as though he could easily do the same, but he resisted. He didn't want to fall asleep and lose his grip on the baby, and he really wasn't ready to give him over to anyone else yet. For the moment he was completely content to gaze at his son… and daydream of receiving an elated response from Renji when they got home. After the redhead picked himself up off the floor, that is.

"I think we should get going."

Byakuya blearily looked up in time to see Rikichi and Rin stand and put on their cloaks.

"Agreed," Shuuhei replied. "Byakuya looks ready to drop and the clock's ticking before they find us anyhow. Hell, they might have even found us already."

"Let's hope they haven't," Byakuya said, too tired to protest being talked about.

"Taichou, would you like me to take your son so you can get some rest?"

"Actually, Mihane, I think it's better if Shuuhei takes him while you do what you can with the barriers after Rin and Rikichi leave. His body is going to be rerouting his reiryoku to support his child and it's going to limit his reiatsu conversion and make his kidou unreliable. Yours on the other hand will still be stable, if low."

"Very true," Shuuhei sighed, feeling slightly guilty for not even being trustworthy to set a barrier spell as he reached out for the babe. Reluctantly, Byakuya loosened his hold and allowed the precious bundle to be taken from him.

"C'mere, little—hey, just what _are_ you going to call him, anyway?" Shuuhei queried, looking from the boy to his birth father curiously. At the mouth of the cave, Rikichi and Rin were about to step out, and Mihane was standing just behind them to ward the entranceway as best she could. All three turned back as the fukutaichou's question reached them.

"Oh kami, he's right! We haven't been calling him anything other than 'your son' or 'the baby'!" Mihane looked upset at the realization that they hadn't even had the presence of mind to name the child.

"But him being born was a complete surprise," Rin pointed out. "Do you even have anything in mind that you like? It's not like we spent time asking you about baby names while you were in labor."

"Hmm, considering how overwhelmed I was I might have killed you if you had," Byakuya mused. "And no… I hadn't given any thought yet as to what he might be named. Call me a bad parent but I was simply happy he was alive and safe."

"I don't think anyone could call you a bad parent. Look at how well you've coped! In the past two days you've found out you were pregnant while stranded in enemy territory, gave birth with no real medical care, and didn't skip a beat dovetailing parenting and strategizing so we can hopefully all get out of here alive," Shuuhei argued. "Anyone who tries to tell you you're a bad parent, is going to get a broken jaw courtesy of me."

"And me," Rikichi chimed in.

"Same here," Rin said decisively, while Mihane gave a single affirmative nod.

Byakuya almost smiled, but he was exhausted and mentally tired of the extreme range of emotions he'd displayed in the last hours. "You all make it sound like I'm some kind of super hero. I thank you for your positive feedback at least."

He turned his head to gaze at his son, who was still sleeping soundly in Shuuhei's arms. Self-doubts aside, his companions were right that the child needed to be called something. His heart twinged with guilt that Renji wasn't there to help him choose, but considering how indefinite their situation seemed, he'd simply have to offer his lover the olive branch of being able to veto any name that he didn't like. Naming the child on a temporary basis just to show courtesy towards the boy wouldn't do any harm. He and Renji could decide on an official moniker when they reunited.

"Give me a moment and I'll see if I can't come up with anything for him."

Looking at the sleeping infant, Byakuya was struck by how innocent the boy seemed. It was hard to believe that this little being was the cause of all his discomfort over the last months, and all his agony over the last few days. So innocent, so disarming, and yet he couldn't allow himself to be taken in by what appeared on the surface. Even a temporary name had to be chosen carefully, as the Kuchiki clan felt very strongly about the influence the meaning of a name would have on the child and how he or she was perceived by others. His own name was a perfect example of this—White Question. A fitting title for a child who spent his days defying the rules of nobility because he just couldn't see how they could be at all beneficial to anyone when they were so unbending and severe. It was that same doubt that had plagued him as he'd debated with himself over the true justice or injustice of Rukia's attempted execution. Because of the restrictive nature of his social status, his allies were always left wondering if they could count on him, if he'd find a back door to help them even when the rules said not to, or if he'd turn them away simply because noble policy or custom had to take precedent. His family as well considered him aptly named; as they couldn't for the life of them decide if he really was as reformed as they thought, or a caged hawk just itching to break free and return to his wild roots again the first chance he got.

'_I__ think __this__ baby__ proves__ that __the __hawk __argument __is __the __correct __one,__'_ he mused wryly as he called to mind all the name lore he'd picked up over the years of officiating over clan naming ceremonies and reading through the vast annals of Seiretei and Kuchiki clan history. There were so many attractive ones that came to mind, but to choose the right one he'd have to momentarily stop looking at the baby through the bias of a loving parent, and try to see through to the little one's true self.

Forcing himself to break the filter of parental adoration that had settled over his eyes the moment the child had been handed to him, Byakuya gave his son an intense, appraising look like he would a shinigami presented as a candidate for promotion or entry into his squad.

Dark hair characteristic of the Kuchiki clan. Skin a shade darker than his own, but still pale. Eye color unknown as he was too young for them to have set into their proper color; and Byakuya wasn't willing to bet that the birthmarks were Renji's only stamp on the boy. They would simply have to wait and see if he developed the characteristic Kuchiki grey, or favored the influence of Renji's bloodline instead. Ink-black tribal markings that both resembled Renji's and yet were interspersed with what looked like drifting sakura petals—markings that reflected the untamed soul of the boy's sire, and gave honor to the hidden spirit that lay beneath the noble title born by his birth parent. Beneath the surface, Byakuya sensed a well of vast, untapped reiryoku that lay quietly, like the still, untouched waters of a lake on a windless night. As he reached out with his own reiatsu, a tiny ripple ran across them, and a flicker of reiatsu sparked as the little body acknowledged it had far too much energy to ever keep contained, and proceeded to make its first attempts at converting that energy into power. It would be fascinating to see what his son's zanpakutou would be, and if those markings had any relation to it like they did with Renji.

Byakuya felt his heart swell with pride, more than satisfied by what he'd seen. This boy was going to be a fine shinigami candidate one day, though it was too early to tell how far he would go, as life had a way of throwing curveballs that could prevent someone from achieving their full potential. At first glance Byakuya was willing to entertain thoughts that he'd at least be officer material, but looking deeper, unless his own senses were completely thrown out of whack by having just given birth, what he had seen of the child's reiryoku told him the baby was more than going to pass the test to determine if he had the minimum power level required for clan leadership. If Byakuya had to guess, he was looking at the first consecutive generation ban kai candidate his clan had ever seen.

But ban kai potential was virtually an insult added to injury, when the child was a half-peasant bastard. And therein Byakuya had to once again face the grim truth. Powerful potential or not, his clan was going to fight tooth and nail to deny this child the chance to see that potential through.

The rules were very clear—no children born out of wedlock, and NO bastards were ever to be elevated to such high a status as Clan Heir. This baby—born out of wedlock, sired by a peasant, birthed by a clan leader with a history of rule-breaking, pregnancy unconfirmed by a clan physician—was going to have one hell of a time trying to claim what was rightfully his.

And it _was_ rightfully his. Had the child been a girl, the clan might have let Byakuya keep her as a kindness and ordered him married off so he might procreate again and provide a suitable male heir, as it was their family's tradition to be lead by a man. But by being born male, having the proper reiatsu potential, and having come from the clan leader's own body, this little man was going to cause quite an uproar. Never before had any clan leader in possession of a ban kai produced a child who was also a strong candidate for being able to use ban kai. The best his clan had ever achieved was a ban kai user every second generation, and that only a few times throughout their history.

This child met every characteristic his clan desired, with the exception of his birth-status as a bastard, and his mixed heritage. Perfect heir in Byakuya's eyes or not, they would still see it as a shame on them that the boy's birth father was so incorrigibly disregarding of their policies, and dared produced an heir that absolutely embodied that disregard, right down to his exotic, unhideable birthmarks.

And yet, Byakuya couldn't bring himself to be diplomatic enough to care about how such a scandalous heir might affect his clan. Two days ago, back when his labor pains had been mere cramps and he was blissfully unaware of the great event they heralded, he would have died trying to uphold his clan's laws and policies and played the part of dutiful leader right to the end in his efforts to make up to them all the embarrassment and frustration he'd caused in his youth. Now, those things meant little in comparison with the injustice that his family would try to saddle this innocent boy with. This child was not to fault for his entrance into the world being unannounced and unofficiated, that was his birth-father's fault for not recognizing his symptoms, and refusing to see a healer when he was feeling out of sorts for such an extended period of time. The child was not to fault for his half-peasant blood, it was his father's choice to give in to the burgeoning love he felt for his peasant fukutaichou, and lay with him without taking the proper precautions. The child was not to fault for his parents being unwed prior to his arrival; they had not even come to a decision to tie the knot yet, let alone figured out how to get around the rules and convince his family to agree to another peasant marrying their Head of House!

But Byakuya could blame the child for giving him a reason to take a stand against those rules in favor of doing right by him.

If there was one thing this little boy had quite sneakily, handily, and irrevocably done simply by forcing the noble to fight to bring him into the world, it was that he'd shown Byakuya just how little the rules could mean when it came down to the important things in life. Of course the rules were needed so people could coordinate their lives and live peacefully together, but that didn't justify how overboard his family had a tendency to take them.

He hadn't held back in his fight to give birth to the babe just because there was going to be trouble when his family found out. He wouldn't deny his child life or a home with his parents just to save face. He wasn't going to attempt to hold him back just so a child with an accepted birth status and bloodlines took what he was more than qualified to inherit.

The lesson that Kurosaki Ichigo had imparted to him when the youth had fought so hard to save Rukia from a very legal and yet very unjust death, was finally driven home by this precious little one that had unapologetically barged his way right into the noble's life.

It was far more important that he fight for his son to have a fair chance at taking his rightful place in his own family, rather than allowing a prejudiced rule to shut him out and limit him. If the clan wanted to punish Byakuya, then so be it. But they would not take his son, they would not hurt his lover, they would _not_ break up their family (should Renji choose to stay), and they would not deny this child the right to fulfill the role that he was meant to fulfill.

This child _would_ be Byakuya's heir. This living embodiment of his refusal to see peasants in his heart as lesser beings, even though the noble behavior required of him might indicate otherwise. This new life who proved the wild spirit he had as a youth was only hidden, not gone. This proof that his heart had finally been healed and restored, after so many years of it laying broken inside him.

That thought caused a small twinge in his chest as he wished for a moment that he would have had the chance to see what offspring he and Hisana might have produced. He tried to picture it, but nothing came to mind except her beautiful smile and expressive eyes. And rather than feel the familiar rending ache of his heart breaking all over again, he simply basked in the warmth of the image for a brief second before letting it go as though it were a petal being blown away by the wind.

For fifty years he had mourned her, grieved for her, woke up drenched in tears, and lost countless hours of rest as he gazed at the stars and begged the universe for answers. Answers to that ever present _'__why?__'__._

But looking at his sleeping child, he couldn't keep asking that anymore. It would always remain amongst the many unanswered questions in his life, but it would rest with those he had accepted he'd never get answers for, and moved on.

This boy was one hundred percent him and Renji, and he wouldn't change that or trade it for anything. And he would do anything to see to it that the three of them had the opportunity to become the family he'd always thought he'd been denied.

She was right, after all. Those five years with her _had_ been a wonderful, beautiful dream. But now it was time to let that dream become a wonderful, beautiful memory, as he moved on to embrace the next dream.

When he got home—when, not if—the first thing he was going to do was make certain Unohana dragged him nowhere until Renji and his Squad were summoned. The redhead wouldn't have to wait a moment if he had anything to say about it before being introduced to their son. From there, the Squad could keep watch while he and the redhead decided what to do about their situation. Byakuya would personally prefer to simply take the plunge and make their union official, but if Renji still desired his freedom he'd honor it. From there, he would begin the fight to convince his clan to accept his son as his heir-to-be, to become his official heir upon completion of the required prerequisites.

And to show them just how serious he was, the child was going to break one more rule.

The potential heirs of his family were always given names based on a color theme. His son was different from his noble brethren, and yet still one of them, and for that, his name would reflect his uniqueness. Byakuya only hoped Renji would like it. His lover had missed out on so much already, Byakuya couldn't bear to take away the decision of the child's name as well. If Renji really objected, then they'd come up with something else. But Byakuya was hoping he'd like this one, as it perfectly embodied the message he was trying to send to his relatives.

He finally took his eyes away from his son, and returned his attention to his waiting companions. The whole decision had only taken a couple of minutes, and yet it felt as though he'd spent half an eternity searching his soul for that perfect moniker.

"Takahiro. I won't say it's official, as Renji should have a say in what his son's name is, but if he doesn't object then the child's name will be Takahiro."

"Takahiro…" Mihane tested the name on her tongue. "It's very dignified. What does it mean?"

"Great value, nobility," Shuuhei supplied. Byakuya looked at him in surprise. He simply shrugged.

"I edit a newspaper, after all. It's not as though we've never done things involving name meanings or popular names for babies."

The noble nodded. "My clan might see him as a disgrace for his heritage and my being unwed, but I care more about what's in his heart. And if he's anything like his father, he's going to have a very noble heart indeed."

"I think it's great," Rikichi grinned. "Just the stick-it-to-'em kinda name I think Abarai fukutaichou will love. Uh, no offense," he amended; worried he might have offended the noble.

"None taken." Byakuya's lips quirked. He wasn't going to admit to that being the purpose behind the choice.

"I like it too, but we should get going now," Rin spoke up.

"You're right," Shuuhei stopped looking at little Takahiro and turned to them. "Be careful, and remember: two hours. No more."

"You can count on us," Rikichi said.

"Stay safe while we're gone," Rin added, as the two of them crept cautiously out of the cave mouth and up the slope. Once they were clear, Mihane summoned what power she could and began rebuilding the sound-shield barrier, and an illusion barrier. Once both were complete, she sat down heavily.

"Done, and I don't have it in me to add more."

"It's fine, Mihane," Shuuhei assured her. The 9th seat merely leaned against the wall, too used up to argue.

"Mind if I catch some sleep for a few moments? You can wake me and we'll take turns with the baby in a little while. We're gonna need to build ourselves up too if we're going to try to fortify a new hideout."

"Go ahead," Shuuhei stared at baby Takahiro, then at his worn out birth parent. Next to him Byakuya was already sound asleep, his body finally allowing itself to shut down after roughly 45 hours of labor; at least six of them spent actually pushing. While awake he'd managed to put on his usual spectacular feat of not letting on just how much the events of the last two days had taken a toll on him. Now that he was asleep though the signs of extreme exhaustion were finally becoming evident. His skin was deathly pale, his eyes were black circles, his hair was a mess, and he reeked of sweat and blood.

"You know, Kuchiki Taichou may be pulling out an amazing feat of coping and ingenuity with the twists this mission has given us, but you've done an amazing job too. I think I can't wait to see your child a few months from now. If what I've see so far is any indication of your parenting potential, I think you'll be great."

Shuuhei looked up at her in surprise, not having expected such a compliment, but Mihane had already dropped off to sleep.

He returned his gaze to the baby again. Once again he tried to imagine what he'd do when the life nestled inside his body was instead finally nestled in his arms, and quite frankly he couldn't do it. Too much uncertainty lay between now and then, and the only thing he could really commit to was getting himself, his now five companions, and his unborn child out of Hueco Mundo alive. After that, the guessing games of what would become of him and what kind of parent he'd be could begin.

**~*~Seiretei, Sixth Division Training Grounds~*~**

"Downward strike! Step forward, overhead block! Step back, downward right hand block! Step forward, thrust!

Ten ranks of unseated officers brought their blades out of the block and stepped forward, maintaining their distance from each other as they followed Renji's command.

Fifteen hours had gone by since the call with Byakuya's team had been cut off. The fukutaichou had managed to sleep for about five of those hours, before he'd been woken up by a nightmare. In it he'd run to the central senkaimon, listening to his lover's screams and pleas for help coming from the other side. He'd pulled Zabimaru from its sheath, calling for his ban kai so he could blast the gates open, only for Zabimaru to transform into a giant crowbar instead. Unquestioningly he'd tried to pry the doors apart, but by the time he succeeded the screams had faded to silence, and the opened portal revealed Byakuya's corpse, laying with Kyouka Suigetsu impaled through his chest. A sound had caused him to look past his love's body, where he saw the broken remains of the rest of the lost team. Shuuhei had raised a bloody hand, eyes pleading as he made one last gurgled attempt to speak past the blood filling his mouth, before he too collapsed and went still. Another cry came from behind Renji as Izuru had darted forward to cradle Shuuhei's bloodied form in his arms. He'd turned back to the redhead with tears streaming down his face.

"_Why didn't you help them?"_

After that there was no going back to sleep. Instead Renji had gone to his desk to try and get some paperwork done, determined that when Byakuya got back enough of his paperwork would already be finished that he'd be able to take a week off for his lover to pamper him, on top of enforcing whatever rest Unohana prescribed.

He'd known the dream was mostly bullshit the moment he'd woken up and realized he was still in his office quarters and that it was still night out. But the horror of seeing Byakuya and his friends dead and hearing Izuru's devastated accusation wouldn't abate. So he made good on his desire to get as much work done as he could until it was time for the unseated shinigami to train, at which point he'd told the officer in charge of leading the exercises to take time off. Getting out of the office and putting his focus into working with the lower ranks definitely helped keep his mind occupied, so that rather than dwelling on the horrible things that might be happening to Byakuya, he was instead merely killing time while he waited for news that the senkaimon or communications (preferably both) were back up and running again. He even had his rescue team all picked out. Aside from himself and several Division Six officers, Kenpachi had ordered Ikakku and Yumichika to accompany him, and Izuru of course had his Division ready to do without him for a few hours so he could go with them to retrieve Shuuhei. And that wasn't even counting what medical aid Unohana might be sending.

He was about to call out the next string of instructions, when a hell butterfly flitted into his peripheral vision. Whirling, he almost took the poor thing's wings off snatching it out of the air so he could hear its message.

"_Abarai__ Fukutaichou,__ this__ is__ Akon__ from__ Division__ Twelve. __Kurotsuchi__ Taichou __has __had __a__ breakthrough__ combating__ the __virus __disabling__ the__ senkaimon.__ We __expect__ to__ get__ communications __and __hopefully__ inter-world __travel__ back__ within_ _the__ next__ four __to __six __hours.__ Please __be __on __standby__ to__ come __to__ the __Twelfth__ Division __control __room __to__ receive__ whatever __updates__ the__ stranded__ team__ has __for__ us__ when__ we__ get __in__ contact __with__ them, __or__ to__ go __directly__ to __the __central__ senkaimon__ with__ your__ team __to__ commence__ rescue__ attempts.__ Choose__ your __team__ at __your__ discretion;__ a __team__ from __Squad __Four__ will__ rendezvous__ with__ you__ to__ offer__ assistance.__"_

"Like I didn't know half of that already," Renji grumbled, mixed about what the message had to say.

On one hand six more hours meant that the virus would have been wiped out within 21 hours—much improved over Kurotsuchi's original predictions at the meeting that they only expected to see progress after 24 hours, not a resolution. Then again, the rumors that Soutaichou might have something to do with the fire lit under the crazed scientist's ass might have been to blame. Something about not letting him work on any experiments until Byakuya and the others were home.

Renji mentally shoved the rumor aside, uninterested if it was true or not but appreciative if it was. Whatever got that creepy bastard to pave the way for him to retrieve his lover and his friend and subordinates was fine by him. Not like those poor test subjects would lament the reprieve.

But six hours was still a long time… plenty long enough for horrible things to happen to the stranded team, if the worst hadn't happened already. Renji silently prayed and pleaded with the Soul King and the powers that be that six hours wouldn't be to late.

**~*~Hueco Mundo~*~**

Underneath the moonlight of the eternally dark World of the Hollows, a cloaked figure stood atop one of the many boulders strewn about the ancient vasto lordes battlefield, and watched as two other cloaked figures scrambled to the top of a depression and slunk off together into the maze.

Trademark smile set in place, Gin stayed exactly as he was.

"Shouldn't I go after them?"

The silver-haired ex-taichou turned and regarded the source of the rasping voice. Experiment 17 was shifting back and forth, eager for blood—shinigami blood, to be specific.

"Now, now, let them get a little further away before you chase them! We don't want them scurrying back to their little rabbit hole and raising the alarm now do we?" he admonished.

The hollow growled, and hung his head in acquiescence. Gin couldn't help the feeling of revulsion that coiled around his gut. This fearsome killer had been so beaten and broken by Aizen, that with the exception of the times he was ordered to attack he was rendered absolutely unable to so much as defend himself or hunt to stay alive, for fear of the tortures that might be inflicted upon him for doing so.

'_Just another example of this guy's evil. Not even the hollows are safe.'_

Not that Gin had developed a soft spot for hollows—quite the contrary—but every moment he stayed in this vicious world, in the presence of that evil man, he found infinitely more reasons to hate the psycho sonofabitch, and infinitely more reasons to want to kill him, even if it did cost everything he'd ever built and achieved to do so.

But first, he had to see to it that poor Byakuya and his hapless cohorts didn't pay the price for the folly that had lead them to follow on the heels of that last team that Experiment 17 had been sicced on. Especially at such a bad time when Aizen was trying to put his latest scheme into effect!

Judging the two had gone far enough ahead, he raised his arm and pointed with his first two fingers.

"Go get 'em, boy. Just remember—toy with them before you kill them. Might as well get as much bang for your kan as you can, while you can."

The hollow eagerly shot off, and the former taichou shook his head and sighed. The almost pathetic part of Experiment 17's "training" was that when someone asked it to toy with its prey, it almost inevitably forgot to kill them in the end—so eager it was to continue the only activity that provided it with any kind of happiness, perverse as it was.

But then again, that was a hollow for ya.

The cloaked shinigami launched himself from his perch and slowly and silently made his way down towards Byakuya's hideout.

Fortunately for him, that blast of reiatsu from the taichou's efforts to birth his offspring had even knocked out the web of alert lines he and his compatriots had placed into the sand. Which was impressive; normally those things shouldn't have been affected by such flares, unless of course the person's reiatsu was exceptionally powerful.

He snickered to himself. He'd expect nothing less from Kuchiki Byakuya.

Skirting the outside of the boulder, he found a place to settle towards the back of the jutting boulder where he could hang out until the proper time. Of course there always was the possibility that he could be seen if those subordinates happened to come back from the same direction. But theoretically his cloak should keep him hidden well enough to lure them in close enough for a knockout punch.

Making himself comfortable, he resolved to stay as statue-like as he could until Experiment 17 failed to corral the two subordinates and they came bolting back to their precious comrades.

In the meantime he went over the plan in his mind, absently toying with the device he'd brought along that he hoped would allow him to pull off this little charade.

Hoped. Because if it failed, he was not only going to add six absolutely unnecessary deaths to his long list of lifetime kills, but he was also for the first time going to have to add the title of "Baby Killer" to it as well.

Personally, he'd rather avoid that if he could.

**~*~TBC…~*~**

**A/N: Ah, the plot thickens. I have to say, I'm really getting into this little plot twist TDM has tossed me. Originally I thought I might let the boys and Mihane pull the wool over Aizen's eyes and laugh watching him find out after the fact that Byakuya had a kid right under his nose without him knowing. But this is so much better! **

**Next time- Gin puts his plan into motion, and the team try desperately to stay alive. But with Byakuya barely able to stand, the baby to worry about, Hisagi at risk of losing his own child, and the other three hardly a match for a former-taichou and his nasty science experiment, getting out in one piece is going to be anything but easy. If they even get out at all… **

**As always- please remember to review. **

**Anonymous Review Responses: To those of you who have come back to read again after my long absence, thank you so much! And to you newcomers, welcome to the madness!**

GJ- Thanks! Glad you liked the raspberries, they were a favorite detail of mine too. Hope the baby's appearance was just as likeable!

Katz- Yea, he _is_ a little Matsumoto-obsessed, isn't he? But then, I feel like he hasn't had much perspective to really branch out. She was his childhood friend, he committed himself to avenging whatever Aizen did to her, and by the time he got himself into a position where he had other people around that he could have gotten close to it was too late and he was too committed to taking down Aizen. Part of the reason I jumped on the idea of a sequel to this fic (not something I originally intended to do) was because I had a plotbunny that would allow me to explore his character a little more by taking his revenge scheme and throwing a major monkey wrench into it. And yes, Unohana walking in and treating him like he's still one of the good guys would definitely be a laugh, haha. And Byakuya is indeed going to have some fallout to deal with for having gotten himself in such a situation, and not just from his family! Tehee, he might want to take Shuuhei's cue and keep those tests around just so he can whip one out and say "Look, see? No plus sign!" ROTFL!

Random anonymous reviewer- Yes, Senbonzakura has a thinking pose. I LOVED that episode where he and Zabimaru got stuck in the Division Twelve labs, and him plopping down Indian-style to wait to be let out was just too adorable. And yes, one of the curses of trying to be colleagues with people who watched you grow up is that they never let you forget they watched you grow up. Nor do they ever stop seeing you as that little kid they used to watch out for. And yes, I think there's a good many people who are going to be highly enthused that Byakuya has a kid. Ukitake for one… aaannnd the ENTIRE SWA. (Poor Bya. XD) And yes, Rukia was left out largely because her extreme concern for her brother would have possibly led to her stealing the limelight from certain characters that I needed it to be on (plus her after-the-fact reaction seemed to have much greater hilarity potential, hehe). Don't worry, Gin's… well, you'll see. And yea, I'm looking forwards to the reunion too. Gotta start planning now—don't want to get stuck wondering what everyone's reaction's gonna be and delay future chapters!

Oh, and the 哉 kanji. Bravo for pointing out that it was different from the conventional 夜. I think my brain is so conditioned to reading 夜 that I defaulted. ;shame; Ah well, I too went and researched it a bit, and no wonder even my Japanese professor didn't know it—it's not a kanji you see in writing; it's for names only! Sneaky, Kubo-san, sneaky… But it does indeed mean 'to query'. Add the 白 in there and I think 'white question' is about as close as you're going to get for meaning. Unless you want to try something abstract, which I don't think Kubo-san was going for. Using the weird, you'll-never-see-this-anywhere-else kanji is probably about as obscure as he was going for. XD I had so much fun researching it (it's not often I see name-exclusive kanji) that I just had to include it in the chapter. Hope you enjoyed!

Ryo- Aww, here's some cyber-tissues! And personally, I think the easiest answer would be both worry, and happiness. ^_^ At least that's how I feel.


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